Sam Van Every started gambling on sports at 19 and all he had to do was open his phone, tap his screen and place a bet.
“All my friends were using FanDuel and had gotten me into it too,” said Van Every. “We all liked the same sports and most of the same teams, so sometimes we would go out and watch a game to talk about what we’d place bets on.”
Van Every and his friends have been betting since legalization in 2021. IGaming Ontario’s annual report shows they aren’t alone. In all, some $82.7 billion was wagered in all forms of online gambling in the year that ended this past March.
Van Every is aware of the downsides of gambling. People have to know their limits, he says.
“I know my limits so I’m never spending too much money,” said Van Every, adding that he usually places bets in the range of $10 to $20. Despite not placing too much, he says certain bets can still get him more than $100 if he wins.
“Recently, I haven’t even been gambling. It’s been probably four or five months since I’ve opened any apps for it,” he said.
I know my limits so I’m never spending too much money.
Sam Van Every
Sports Gambling apps allow Canadians to bet directly from their phones, making it easier and more accessible for anyone to get into. But public health experts warn ease of access coupled with widespread marketing is helping create a major problem.
In a recent editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers called for quicker action on eliminating advertising where minors might see them, noting problem gambling has been associated with increased risks of suicide, substance abuse crime, and other social harms. Other researchers want more data collected and more research to gauge the impact of online gambling. They suggest rates of problem gambling are likely much higher than reported.
The advertisements are hard to avoid for any person who enjoys watching sports. As shown by sportshandle.com, the NFL, NBA, NHL, to name a few, all have multiple partnerships with various sportsbooks.
And an analysis by the CBC and researchers in the UK found that on average, 21 per cent of the broadcast of NHL and NBA games studied were taken up by gambling messages.
Bill S-211, which has passed third reading, would address some of the issues around gambling ads.
But that may not change the attraction for some sports fans who find the gambling actually improves their enjoyment of watching games.
Zachary Guindon-Fennessy said he finds sports more enjoyable to watch when you have a stake in it.
“It puts you in tune with the game a little more by having the dopamine release of knowing you know the sport you watch well, and you’re winning money at the same time.”
And workers in sports bars have noticed that betting shapes how customers act in these establishments.
“There’s a big correlation between sports betting and business in sports bars,” said Mackenzie Molinski, a manager at Hometown Sports Grill in Alta Vista.
“We often have customers who ask to watch specific games because of the money they have on those games. While before most people would come to watch the Ottawa Senators or a local sports team, now more people come to watch games they may not have on their sports package because they have bets on them.”
Seeing more people who just turned 18 or 19 already on these sports betting apps and not being able to enjoy the game as much unless they have money on it is definitely worrisome. While it can be fun and exciting, there is a fine line and I hope people are able to realize that before it’s too late.
Mackenzie Molinski, manager at Hometown Sports Grill in Alta Vista
Molinski also says that the more popular sports betting has become, the more diversity it has added to which games people want to see at the bar. It has also increased traffic and business for them overall.
“It’s definitely been a huge factor in driving business for us recently. It also really gets people excited and rowdy, especially for larger games like the Super Bowl or World Cup, because they’re all cheering for whichever different bets they’ve got going. No matter who’s scoring, someone will be cheering,” said Molinski.
Molinski points to another factor besides the games themselves that brings customers in: live odds.
“While we don’t specifically do it ourselves, the odds are often broadcast on our TVs through these different sports channels,” Molinski said. “So sometimes people will come in just to check odds, and in the meantime they’ll grab a drink or order some food.”
Still, Molinski worries about how quickly young adults are entering the gambling space.
“Seeing more people who just turned 18 or 19 already on these sports betting apps and not being able to enjoy the game as much unless they have money on it is definitely worrisome,” he said. “While it can be fun and exciting, there is a fine line and I hope people are able to realize that before it’s too late.”
Guindon-Fennessy is also critical of how normalized sports gambling has become. “It is highly addictive and [promoted] way too much. It’s really inappropriate to be encouraging young minds into such an addictive past time,” he said. “I think it can be very harmful to us, especially with how expensive it is to live.”
He points to its easy accessibility as a primary issue.
“If you have to go in person to a casino to make the bet, it’s a different story because that takes multiple facets of choices instead of just opening your phone and losing money in seconds.”
