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Since regulated iGaming launched in Ontario, the landscape of Canadian sports has changed dramatically. While the industry has grown into a multi-billion-dollar behemoth in just four years, Canadians are tired of seeing sports betting ads everywhere.
A recent joint analysis from the CBC Marketplace and the University of Bristol revealed that Ontario sports viewers spent 22% of each live game event watching ads. That includes on the court, across hockey rinks, on social media reels, as well as province-wide sports broadcasts.
The worst part is that the avalanche of sports betting advertising was not just confined to Ontario. Rather, Canadians outside Ontario, who didn’t have access to Ontario’s regulated platforms, also saw the ads. And that’s how Canadian Members of Parliament decided to push Bill S-211, a way to rein in all that advertising blitz. If passed, the federal government would have power to directly regulate sports betting ads nationally, instead of leaving it to provincial governments as it is at present.
House of Commons Backs Legislation
Senate Bill 211, or the National Framework on Sports Betting Ads, seeks to create a Canada-wide framework for sports betting advertising through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. It also aims to direct the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to assess the adequacy of the current responsible gambling measures and review its existing regulations.
While the Bill already passed the Senate twice (in 2024 as S-269 and in 2025 in the current S-211), April 22, 2026, marked the first formal vote of this current version in the House of Commons. In what could fairly be called a watershed moment for the legislation, members of the House of Commons voted 291-28 in favour of pushing the bill for further discussions in the House committee.
Worth noting is that Bill S-211 doesn’t explicitly ban sports betting advertising. Bill sponsor Senator Martin Deacon, who alongside 40 other senators had previously pushed for a complete ban on sports betting ads last fall, later clarified that while she would personally support such a move, it would likely conflict with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects freedom of expression.
The April 2022 vote in the Commons is just the first of three readings that need to take place before the bill becomes law.
Prime Minister Carney and Many MPs Feel Change is Necessary
Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney was among the majority who voted to advance Bill S-211. The 28 opposing votes almost entirely came from Bloc Québécois members who argue federal advertising oversight interferes with Quebec’s autonomy.
Conservative MP Kevin Waugh, who helped legalize single-event sports betting in 2021, put it plainly. He says that while provincial regulation have done well so far, “sports betting advertising took the promotion to an all-time extreme.”
“What was always an accepted practice prior to the passage of Bill C-218 quickly became an avalanche of targeted, even predatory, and excessive advertising,” Waugh said. “It came at us from all sides, and I think the public was simply blindsided.”
But, as expected, not everyone agrees with S-211. The Canadian Gaming Association, for instance, argues provinces already handle advertising regulation effectively, and that federal involvement risks overly complicating things. Some sports and gaming industry stakeholders also agree, saying potential federal intervention is an overreach that can do more harm than good.
“This bill would ask for more coordination and for government to study what is actually happening,” Conservative MP Kelly DeRidder said after Waugh in the April 22 discussion of the bill. “Some will say this is not enough, and others will worry that it goes too far. What it really does is ask for a clear picture of the situation and whether our current system is working as intended.”
“We are not trying to change the entire system overnight, but to make sure we are asking the right questions and getting the full picture of what is happening. This industry is changing rapidly. The responsible thing to do would be for us to pause, review and ensure that there are safeguards in place and that they are doing what they are meant to do.”
Still, with the Prime Minister onside and a 291-28 vote in the bag, the critics are firmly in the minority. The momentum behind S-211 is real and growing by the day.
Ontario Takes a Similar Approach
Ontarians know the sports betting ads headache better than anyone. Four years into its regulated iGaming market, gambling ads have become impossible to escape: on television, across social media, and woven into sports broadcasts almost as frequently as the games themselves.
Liberal MPP Lee Fairclough has had enough. On April 20, 2026, she introduced the Stop Harmful Gambling Advertising Act (Bill 107). It seeks to prohibit licensed operators from advertising on television, social media, and through paid sponsorships. What’s more, operators who violate the rules are liable for fines up to $1 million. Repeat offenders risk losing their licence entirely.
Since the launch of Ontario online casinos and sportsbooks in 2022, Fairclough points to the measurable rise in gambling-related distress calls, especially among young Ontarians, as the justification for the bill. However, worth mentioning is that the market hasn’t been completely unregulated within the four years.
The AGCO banned recognizable athletes from gambling ads in 2024, and a new industry-wide responsible advertising code came into effect in January 2026. But Fairclough’s bill would go much further, shifting the conversation from managing gambling ads to eliminating them from public view almost entirely.
What This Means For Alberta’s Soon-to-Launch iGaming Market
Alberta, like other Canadian provinces, has been watching Ontario’s iGaming advertising reckoning closely, and it’s taking notes.
Once Alberta online casinos and sportsbooks go live on July 13, 2026, it will start with a stricter advertising framework than Ontario had at its launch on April 4, 2022. Athletes, both current and retired, are banned from gambling ads off the bat.
Targeting minors and vulnerable individuals is off the table before a single licensed operator goes live. A centralized self-exclusion program will also be operational at launch. In other words, Alberta is starting where Ontario took two to four years to arrive.
That context matters as Bill S-211 moves through the House of Commons. A national advertising framework would layer federal oversight on top of what provinces like Alberta and Ontario are already building independently. For Alberta, which has done the work upfront, the impact may be minimal. For provinces that haven’t, it could force long-overdue accountability.
