‘Ban Them All,’ Says Senator Behind Bill to Restrict Canadian Sports Betting Ads

^{It won’t be easy keeping gambling ads off Canadian screens. (Photo: David Zalubowski / AP)}

The Canadian senator behind a bill to limit sports betting ads says that if she has her way, advertising for the sector will be banned entirely.

“I would love a full ban on advertising, end of story,” Ontario Sen. Marty Deacon told the House Committee on Canadian Heritage on Thursday, Oct. 29.

Deacon and Bardish Chagger, the Waterloo-region MP sponsoring the bill in the House, appeared before the committee alongside expert witnesses to defend Bill S-211. The committee will vote Nov. 3 on whether to move the bill to the report stage and then to the House of Commons for a third and final reading.

Bill S-211 calls on the federal government to establish a “national framework on sports betting advertising” that would set rules on how betting can be marketed across the country. The bill leaves room for a number of solutions. Among the measures Deacon has floated are a ban on celebrities in all gambling marketing and a whistle-to-whistle ban.

The latter, she said, could mirror an approach taken in the UK, where betting commercials are banned from five minutes before the start of a sporting event until five minutes after it concludes.

S-211 is a private member’s bill, not a government-backed initiative, but the Senate approved it unanimously and it secured more than 90% approval at its second reading in the House. It calls only for changes to rules for sports betting advertising, leaving online casino and poker products untouched.

Quebec Members, Provinces Push Back

At least at the committee stage, there was broad approval for the concept of reining in sports betting ads in general.

What may imperil the bill is a fear that it oversteps the boundaries of the federal government and infringes on the rights of provinces and territories to regulate gambling as they see fit. Two committee members from Quebec made it clear they will vote to scrap the bill because it represents a legal dead end.

The provincial governments of both Alberta and Ontario oppose S-211, according to reports. Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey wrote to the Canadian government earlier this year to protest federal intervention into gambling policy.

“Ontario has already established [a] comprehensive and modern regulatory framework for online gaming and sports betting,” which includes keeping sports betting ads in check, he said.

Gambling is currently managed entirely at the provincial level, meaning each region can regulate gambling advertising as it sees fit. The issue with that approach, according to Deacon and others, is that ads supposedly targeted only at residents of Ontario or Alberta are widely seen throughout Canada.

This “demonstrates a policy gap in the current approach,” Chagger said.

“A patchwork of provincial laws is only as strong as the weakest one,” Deacon added.

Provincial leaders would be given a seat at the table if the government crafts the framework envisaged by S-211, and even the gambling industry would be invited to contribute, Deacon said.

NHL Season Puts Betting Ads in Spotlight

Discontent over the volume of gambling advertising in Canada has been thrown into even sharper relief by the start of the new National Hockey League (NHL) season. Concerns about potential harm are paired with a segment of the public who are simply tired of the number of gambling promotions they see during sports broadcasts.

During the most recent playoffs, earlier in 2026, research by the University of Bristol found 3,000 gambling messages were visible across seven games.

October also marks the first NHL season since Alberta joined Ontario in July in opening its online gambling market to private operators. That has created a second jurisdiction with intense competition for betting consumers and another route through which gambling ads can leak into the rest of Canada.

Both of Alberta’s NHL teams, the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers, now have jersey-front sponsorships with Play Alberta, a unit of the provincially owned lottery company that competes with the private sector.

In both Ontario and Alberta, sports stars may only appear in commercials that promote an operator’s responsible gambling tools, although this has still proved deeply unpopular with some consumers. Approached for this story about the role of its members in sports betting advertising, the NHL Players Association declined to comment.

Broadcasters Warn Crackdown Would Help Black Market

The provinces and the gambling industry at least have the backing of the TV and radio industry.

Appearing at Thursday’s committee hearing as the lone defender of the status quo, Canadian Association of Broadcasters CEO Kevin Desjardins warned that heavy-handed restrictions on sports betting ads would create space that will only be filled by the black market.

Desjardins accused politicians of rushing to crack down on a perceived problem without demonstrating that the approach taken by Alberta and Ontario is limiting harms and channeling players to the regulated sector.

“The bill is written as though more restrictions on advertising are [needed], rather than first assessing if the current regulations work,” he said.