A group of Liberal Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) in Ontario have authored legislation that would ban most online gambling advertising in the province.
MPP Lee Fairclough’s Bill 107, titled the “Stop Harmful Gambling Advertising Act,” was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on Monday. It arrives in addition to a federal effort to rein in sports betting-specific advertising, S-211, which has passed the Senate and currently sits in the House of Commons.
MPPs target all online gambling ads, not just sports
Unlike that federal Private Member’s Bill (PMB), which aims to establish a national framework for regulating sports betting ads, Fairclough’s PMB proposes an explicit ban on online gambling advertising at large. It would amend Ontario’s Gaming Control Act of 1992 to prohibit any of the province’s almost 50 online sportsbooks and online casinos from advertising or otherwise promoting their sites or products in the province.
The bill includes some carveouts, including one for certain ads originating outside Ontario, but would effectively prevent licensed Ontario operators from advertising via several channels. Any iGaming company convicted of an offence under the proposed bill could be fined up to $1m, and could have its provincial operating license revoked upon a second or subsequent conviction.
Etobicoke—Lakeshore MPP Fairclough, who is the Liberal Party critic for mental health, addiction and homelessness, presented the bill in the Assembly on Monday. She specifically cited broadcast media, social media and paid sponsorships as the kind of promotional avenues that she wants to cut off.
“Addiction to online gambling is an emerging public health crisis in Ontario – the only province that has privatized online gambling in the country,” states the introduction of the legislative text, citing data that points to higher incidence rates of problem gambling. “The proliferation of gambling advertising normalizes gambling and corrupts the integrity and culture of sports. Banning the advertising of electronic gambling sites is therefore in the public interest to protect public health.”
Bill 107 was advanced at its first introductory vote on Monday, which ordered it for second reading.
Partisan bill may face uphill struggle
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s provincial Progressive Conservative Party paved the way for Ontario to launch regulated iGaming in April 2022, which was the first time a Canadian province opened a license-based, regulated online gambling market. Alberta since legalized commercial iGaming and has set July 13 as the launch date for its own market this summer.
Fairclough’s Bill 107 has three co-sponsors, all of whom are also Liberal MPPs:
- Interim Ontario Liberal leader and Ottawa South MPP John Fraser
- Orléans MPP Stephen Blais
- Kingston MPP Ted Hsu
In a partisan statement announcing the bill, Fairclough again labeled online gambling as a public health crisis.
“We cannot ignore the impact that Doug Ford’s privatized online gambling is having on people across Ontario,” wrote Fairclough. “Ontario is the only province in the country that has privatized online gambling. The scale and harm of online gambling advertising is out of control.”
Given the partisan nature of the bill, the incumbent PC government holding a majority of 80 seats in the Ontario Assembly, and Liberals occupying just 14 seats, Fairclough’s bill likely faces a battle for traction.
CGA says Bill 107 poses risks to players
In a statement issued on April 22, the Canadian Gaming Association (CGA) said that it and its licensed members stand in respectful opposition to MPP Fairclough’s Bill 107, pointing to Ontario’s existing iGaming advertising restrictions.
“Ontario enforces some of the most rigorous marketing regulations in North America,” said the industry association, noting that operators cannot advertise promotional bonuses or incentives outside of their own websites, apps, and customer outreach and that they are prohibited from marketing to high-risk cohorts, minors, or self-excluded players.
“Licensed advertising is closely monitored by compliance teams, including thinkTV and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO),” added the CGA. “Bill 107 essentially allows illegal operators to flood social media with posts, making it impossible for Ontarians to identify licensed providers while weakening the authority of the AGCO. This fails to safeguard vulnerable people or minors; on the contrary, it actually puts them at greater risk.
“Ontario has worked hard to make its market safe – we urge the government to continue to put its players first.”
Canadian legislators take up arms against ads
The Ontario bill is the latest indicator that online betting advertising has become a top-of-mind issue for lawmakers in Canada.
Bill 107 comes not only as Alberta gears up to welcome commercial iGaming operators into the province, but as Canadian politicians at the provincial and federal levels shine a harsh spotlight on gambling advertising.
A multi-year federal effort in Canadian Parliament has seen the Senate pass a national framework bill in both 2024 and 2025. The second version, S-211, is sponsored by Sen. Marty Deacon of the officially non-partisan Independent Senators Group. It is scheduled for a second reading vote in the House of Commons this week, a stage it never reached last year amid political turmoil and Justin Trudeau’s eventual resignation as Prime Minister.
Deacon said during debate of her bill last fall that she would support a blanket ban on sports betting advertising in principle if she thought it was a realistic prospect.
“While that is what I would love to see … I believe that if I had sought a complete ban through this legislation, it would certainly have had a much rougher ride,” she said during one session before the bill passed the Senate last October.
Deacon subsequently co-authored a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney in November, in which more than 40 senators urged the federal government to ban all advertising for sports betting websites and apps nationwide, “similar to the advertising ban for cigarettes, and for the same reason: to address a public health problem.”
Meanwhile, former MP Brian Masse, who was the original bill sponsor driving the legalization of single-event sports wagering in Canada that ultimately passed into law in 2021, made headlines earlier this month when he said that the way in which some provinces (referring without name to Ontario) have implemented that law is “deplorable”.
