Former MP behind sports gambling legalization says some results are 'deplorable'

The former MP who spent sir thomas more than a decennium pushing to decriminalize single-event sports betting says he doesn't regret it — but says its effectuation is in some shipway "sad" and "deplorable."

He also says more regulation is required to curb the volume and methods of gambling advertising in Canada.

Former NDP MP Brian Masse introduced a private member's bill to lift the prohibition in 2019, and one year later, Conservative MP Kevin Waugh re-introduced Masse's bill.

It passed with support from MPs across parties in 2021.

But Masse says, five years later, legalized sports betting hasn't been implemented in the way he had envisioned.

"I don't have regrets, but it's sad to see some of the repercussions. We can still avoid them, too. The story isn't done."

For Masse, it was a local issue: Windsor, Ont., casinos compete with those in Detroit. When the United States Supreme Court struck down the federal law preventing states from allowing single-event sports betting, some states legalized it, including Michigan — allowing betting in physical casinos, and putting Canadian casinos at a disadvantage.

"It really was about jobs at our casino, it was jobs at our entertainment industry, it was jobs in tourism," said Masse.

"You could see the modernization taking place. And so we didn't want organized crime to benefit. We wanted it to be accountable."

One of the primary arguments for the legalization of sports betting was that it would be to create a legal, regulated space at the expense of black market gambling.

But five years later, advertisements for sports gambling are omnipresent on broadcasts.

Last month, a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found a jump of more than 300 per cent in young men contacting Ontario's mental health helpline for gambling-related problems.

"It is not surprising that the gambling industry has increased so much in Ontario, but it is not the story we were told," said Renze Nauta, program director of work and economics at the Christian think-tank Cardus.

"We were told this was supposed to be a move of people already gambling on the black market and moving to the legal market. But the increase that we've seen suggests there are a lot of people who are gambling today who weren't before the legislation was passed."

Masse said the "weakness" in the federal bill is that it changed the Criminal Code — and gambling is regulated provincially — leaving each province to chart its own path.

He recommended that single-event sports betting be implemented slowly, and that it stay with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, a Crown agency owned by the government of Ontario. 

"But what they've done is, they've launched full throttle," he said. "They have allowed all of this unregulated activity."

Unlike other provinces, Ontario opened up a regulated market to private gambling companies, with 47 licensed iGaming operators. Since April 2022, the regulated market has become a multibillion-dollar industry in Ontario, yielding hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Ontario government — and steady growth. 

"That's where advertising went bananas, because there are all these operators, and they all want a piece," said Ontario Sen. Marty Deacon.

Deacon sponsored a bill to develop a national framework to regulate advertising for sports betting and set national standards for prevention of risks.

The bill, S-211, has passed the Senate and is currently at second reading in the House of Commons. 

"Would I love to have a full ban? Sure, I would. But to get this up and active and moving through the Senate to the House, based on the threshold, I said we're going to go with a partial ban," she said.

The Canadian Gaming Association, which represents operators in Canada, argues that its members already work in one of the country's most regulated industries.

President and CEO Paul Burns said industry is open to additional regulation, but says it should be left to provinces, which have jurisdiction and expertise.

"Getting rid of advertising isn't going to solve problem gambling. If it had done that, it would've done that a long time ago. In reality, it's very naive to think that that's the solution," said Burns.

But both Nauta and Masse are calling for greater restrictions on advertising, as exists for products like cigarettes, or an outright ban.

"Reducing advertising or banning it all together would make a big difference in, in the data that we see and the effects on people's lives," said Nauta.

He says he'd prefer an outright ban on sports betting ads.

Masse says the federal government has more tools at its disposal to move faster, and if the Carney government was motivated, it could introduce its own bill or put changes in a budget bill.

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