Can Alberta Avoid An Advertising Crackdown?

^{New online gambling freedoms in Alberta mean that advertising has spiked, frustrating many citizens. Can Alberta avoid a new wave of gambling ad restrictions? (Image courtesy of BetMGM's YouTube channel.)}  

Alberta’s decision to allow licensed operators into its online gaming market has one guaranteed consequence: much, much more advertising.

Recent history, including in Canada, is littered with marketing crackdowns that follow liberalization, so can the gambling industry in Alberta avoid the fate that has befallen it so many times before?

From mid-July, around 20 licensed operators have been free to offer their services to customers in Alberta, with more than double that number potentially to follow in the weeks ahead.

One of the rewards for submitting to these new regulations is the freedom to advertise in the province via conventional means.

With millions of potential new customers up for grabs in a highly competitive market, TV and radio airwaves in Alberta have already become flooded with gambling brands jockeying for customers.

In Alberta, residents are already feeling the whiplash.

“Is anyone else getting bombarded by gambling ads on all platforms?” asked one user on the r/Calgary subreddit.

“Sports have almost become unwatchable now. It honestly feels like every third commercial is for a gambling site,” said another.

This anecdotal snapshot ominously echoes complaints seen in the months after jurisdictions like Ontario and the Netherlands re-regulated their own markets.

Patrick Moore, a spokesperson for Toronto-based nonprofit the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC), told Casinos.com that he believes an increase in gambling advertising does pose a risk to public health.

“Research consistently shows that the volume and visibility of gambling advertising influences how risk is perceived, particularly among young people, and this is a factor any newly liberalized market needs to account for,” he said.

“That is why RGC urges an approach that focuses on the full player journey: mandatory RG Check standards for operators, prevention education for youth and families, resources for players, and campaigns ... that provide balance to industry marketing.”

The McJesus Effect

Ontario launched its online gambling market in 2022 complete with limits to ensure that ads did not present gambling as a way to get rich quick or solve any of life’s problems, but only a year later the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) found itself in the midst of a consultation to toughen those rules.

Regulations to ban the use of social media influencers, celebrities and sports stars with strong appeal to children were subsequently introduced.

Alberta has drawn significantly from Ontario in the creation of its legislation and is trying to begin its own iGaming journey with tougher responsible advertising rules in place.

That includes a total ban on sports stars being used to advertise gambling, with one key exception: “except for the exclusive purpose of advocating for responsible gambling practices.”

During the 2026 NHL playoffs, which ended just a month before the Alberta online casino market opened, Canadian viewers became very familiar with an ad for BetMGM featuring Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid.

The ad exclusively talks about the operator’s responsible gambling tools, but critics have argued that an ad for BetMGM’s safer gaming products is still an ad for BetMGM.

I’ll Have What She’s Having

Beyond Ontario, there are plenty of international examples of a downward trajectory for gambling advertising in recently re-regulated online markets.

In the Netherlands, which adopted open licensing in 2021, the government has since introduced a ban on what it calls “non-targeted advertising,” meaning that gambling ads on TV and radio are illegal, but marketing techniques like emails are still permitted.

This has, however, failed to quell political and public discontent, and there remains a very real threat of a total ban on advertising, of the kind that was enacted by Italy in 2018.

Italy’s solution is coveted by some in Canada, including the pressure group Ban Ads For Gambling.

In a letter from the group to the Alberta minister who heads gambling regulation, Dale Nally, University of Toronto professor Bruce Kidd alleges that: “In opening Alberta to the major gambling companies, you will make Albertans even more vulnerable to the well-documented mental health harms that result from sports betting and other forms of online gambling.”

He called on Nally to immediately ban all forms of gambling advertising.

Ban Ads For Gambling is also a major supporter of Bill S-211, a piece of potential federal legislation which would supersede rules in Ontario, Alberta and other provinces to introduce a national framework for gambling advertising.

If passed, it would instruct the Minister of Canadian Heritage to develop a set of rules “limiting the number, scope or location” of gambling advertisements.

The bill has already been approved by Canada’s Senate and passed its second reading in the House of Commons in April. It is expected to face committee scrutiny and a final vote in the fall.

Self-Governance

The gambling industry argues that existing advertising protections in Alberta and Ontario are strong enough to keep consumers safe.

The Canadian Gaming Association (CGA) argues that the data does not support concerns that gambling advertising is running out of control in Canada.

Only 2% of ads on TV in the first half of 2025 were for gambling, and 4% during NHL games, said its president and CEO, Paul Burns.

In an effort to head off the threat of Bill S-211, the CGA introduced its Code for Responsible Gaming Advertising at the start of 2026, which is being administered by Canadian self-regulatory organization Ad Standards.

The code commands that operators demonstrate “good taste” in their marketing and includes specific provisions such as a ban on advertising bonuses, outside of direct marketing or on age-gated affiliate sites.

Hearts and Minds

A major issue facing the CGA and its members is that decisions to ban gambling ads are often disconnected from the level of “responsibility” demonstrated by the operators doing the advertising.

Instead, it’s the volume of advertising that has historically upset consumers and, by extension, driven political decision making.

Proposing harsher rules for gambling marketing is rarely a vote loser.

Italy’s gambling ad ban, for example, came about as an election pitch for the populist Five Star Movement’s successful attempt to win the 2018 general election.

In the Netherlands, the black market is making massive gains, with even the nation’s gambling regulator admitting that less than 50% of money wagered is now being done so within the regulated market.

Despite this trend, the recently installed government, which ran on an iGaming-skeptical platform, has signalled its support for tougher advertising measures.

Canadian consumers are no less friendly to a rise in the visibility of gambling. 

Recent polling by the Angus Reid Institute found that 74% of Canadian consumers want limits on how many gambling ads can be shown during a broadcast, and 52% support a total ban on gambling marketing.

For its part, the Alberta government is already being clear that it has not ruled out introducing tougher rules.

“If further action is needed to protect Albertans, we’ll look into potential next steps,” warned Minister Nally.