With increased focus on gambling-suicide links in countries like Australia and the United Kingdom, and with strategizing at the federal level to reduce suicides overall, there is pressure on lawmakers to rethink Canada’s approach to GRS [gambling-related suicide]. Questions remain about whether provinces have done enough to track and prevent deaths.
Survey data released last week by the charitable research organization Mental Health Research Canada suggests 60 per cent of people at high risk of gambling problems reported that ads influenced them to gamble more.
The widespread cultural acceptance of legalized gambling is connected to viewing gambling as a personal choice, neglecting the addictive nature of the heavily-promoted gaming options and ignoring the dire financial and mental health consequences for those who become addicted — a view pushed through marketing and industry lobbying efforts.
This underlying risk seems at odds with the continued expansion and availability of legalized gambling across Canada, including legal single-sports betting in every province, two recently-opened casino resorts in the Greater Toronto Area, and more than 80 new legal online casinos in Ontario through its iGaming Ontario provincial agency.
I agree quite a bit with you, but the new ‘legal’ sports gambling is private (and really under-regulated).
The government has clearly failed to regulate sports gambling advertising enough.
I would guess that sports gambling companies only pay the corporate tax rate. If so, that is bullshit and there should be added tax on gambling profits. This can help fund treatment, research, and awareness-building about problematic gambling
That’s why I said “almost all forms of gambling are regulated by governments”.
Right on. I’m realizing that I think I’ve overestimated sport betting’s current market share in the landscape of Canadian gambling, because 1) I’m into sports and 2) almost everyone seems to agree that sports betting ads too common. They’re still still smaller than land-based casinos, government online gambling, lotteries, etc