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Canadian broadcasters state the demand from sportsbook operators for ad time is currently deteriorating, and a costs aiming to control that marketing is a bit hasty.

The Senate of Canada's Transport and Communications Committee met again Wednesday night to hear more statement in connection with Bill S-269, which proposes the development of a national structure for sports betting-related advertising.

That framework would determine methods of controling sportsbook ads, "with a view to restricting using such advertising, limiting the number, scope or location," the text of the legislation states.

Not so fast, my buddies

But what the Senate committee heard on Wednesday is that those commercials are already being restricted, both on the effort of broadcasters and due to the fact that sportsbook operators are buying less advertisement time.

Kevin Desjardins, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters - a group comprised of more than 700 private-sector channels and stations - said some of the coalition's members have developed "internal and voluntary limitations" on the quantity of video gaming ads they run.

Those limits are in addition to the requirements set out by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), which supervises iGaming in the only Canadian province that permits multiple private-sector operators to do service.

"To some extent, this is not unlike advertising at the dawn of the.com boom, a new market that emerged seemingly from nowhere, that seemed ubiquitous in the minute, but that in time normalized," Desjardins said. "What we have actually seen in regards to advertising over the last two years is not representative of what we prepare for going forward, and already, our members have informed us that they are seeing decreases in the amount of ad time that's being looked for by these services."

Now up is Kevin Desjardins, the president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, a group of private-sector radio and television operators. Says a few of their members have established internal limitations on the amount of sports betting ads they'll relay. pic.twitter.com/zmXLS1m5Ny

Desjardins stated the proposed legislation is "early and an unneeded overreach" into work already being done by provincial regulators.

"Having multiple layers of regulatory frameworks in this location will create confusion and not allow provincial regulators to make the changes they deem required as they see the advancement of the market in their own jurisdictions," he included.

Desjardins is among almost 20 witnesses who have provided testimony about S-269 to the transportation and communications committee, which held two hearings in June and two in September.

Another hearing is scheduled for Oct. 1, and then the committee will conduct a "clause-by-clause" consideration of the expense the following day. That will be the time for committee members to propose changes to the legislation if they so select, and after that to advance the costs by it back to the full Senate for further debate.

A few pointers

Simply put, Canada's private-sector broadcasters are pressing back against legislation that appears to be making development.

Moreover, the opposition comes as Canada is just over 3 years past the decriminalization of single-game sports wagering and more than two years beyond Ontario's launch of its competitive iGaming market.

Some legislators have voiced concern about what the current legislative and regulative changes have resulted in, and S-269 provides an opportunity for those at the federal level to try to make changes to among the more noticeable elements of business: advertising.

Ontario is still the only province that has invited and controlled the similarity private-sector operators such as bet365, BetMGM, and FanDuel, however Alberta is in the procedure of assembling a similar structure, and other markets may eventually follow suit.

Shelley White, CEO of the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC), said that research study on the results of betting marketing found that increased direct exposure can normalize that activity while decreasing an individual's understanding of the danger included.

White and the RGC are also supportive of the nationwide structure S-269 proposes because, to name a few things, it would create a plan of sorts that other provinces might follow.

"The benefit is that it might supply consistent assistance to each of the provinces as they develop their betting marketing and advertising regulative requirements," White informed the committee.

Continue truckin' (or don't)

Still, Ontario's market has arguably been the catalyst for much of the current boost in advertising of sports wagering in Canada. Those ads have handled to irritate some sports fans and bring in attention from legislators and regulators.

"We have actually heard a lot about how harmful this advertising is, however nobody's really talked to what I think is driving a lot of this, which is that it's so frustrating," Alberta Sen. Paula Simons stated at one point throughout Wednesday's hearing.

Desjardins responded by suggesting that the newness of the gambling ads is making them stick out more for Canadian audiences.

"If you were to take pickup truck advertisements off the air for 6 months, and after that reintroduce them at the exact same levels, individuals would say, 'My God, there's many pickup truck ads on the air, right?" he stated.

But public policy should not be produced to satisfy people's individual perceptiveness, Desjardins said, and he alerted the committee about people utilizing marketing as a "proxy fight" to relitigate the legalization of single-game sports wagering.

Desjardins also acknowledged that gambling marketing provided a "substantial influx" of earnings for broadcasters at a time when he stated those incomes were being challenged.

"I believe that we acknowledge the truth that it is going to retrench rather, and we're currently seeing indications of that," he stated. "So it's certainly not a long-term tactical piece to the advertising service, but it is a significant piece at the minute, particularly for specific services."

Desjardins says he believes there are people utilizing marketing as a "proxy fight" against single-game sports wagering's legalization. Doesn't believe there is anything demonstrating that the outcomes individuals desire are going to be served by limiting advertisements.

Although they may have troubled some viewers, especially in provinces beyond Ontario, where the operators are not yet controlled, the sports betting ads are expected to serve a function. To name a few things, the marketing permits operators to present themselves to possible customers and highlight which operators are regulated and which are not.

However, not everyone concurs that the ads are required to help transition gamers from the grey and black markets into regulated ones. Cardus, a Christian think tank, is amongst those pushing for S-269 to go even further, and absolutely ban all sports wagering advertisements.

"If the legalization of single-event sports betting was planned to meet existing demand and reduce the black market for sports gambling (as was stated at the time), then it needs to be unnecessary to drive up demand through advertising," Cardus' written submission to the Senate committee stated. "Governments should not allow the promotion of this activity through marketing.