Faced with a 'torrent' of sports betting ads, this Canadian senator wants national rules to deal with them

The number of advertisements encouraging people to bet on sporting events is both annoying and dangerous, a Canadian senator says.

Sports betting has been legal in Canada since 2021, but there are no rules around how it can be advertised. 

Marty Deacon, who represents Ontario's Waterloo region as an Independent, has coached athletes or been involved with Team Canada at 15 Olympic, Commonwealth and Pan Am Games starting in 1994.

Deacon said sports betting ads, which often include celebrities or athletes, have become "very attractive, and addictive and sensational," which draws in young and vulnerable people. 

It's why she has proposed legislation to create a national framework to regulate sports betting advertising, introducing Bill S-269 in the Senate on Tuesday.

Deacon said she supported a move to allow single sports betting in Canada in 2021 to better regulate the industry.

"Billions and billions of dollars were going into very unfortunate places and out of country, and so we were trying to legalize single betting so that Canadians could bet with Canadian companies, follow Canadian laws, and support the work of provinces and territories," Deacon told Josette Lafleur, guest host for CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition.

"Then what happened as a result of that is a really big torrent of advertising and promotions that is coming out in great, great quantities for all ages and on a regular and daily basis."

The legislation she's proposed would create a framework similar to how advertising is regulated for alcohol and tobacco.

Deacon said the rules could include:

She said other countries have implemented rules around advertising and Canada could take lessons from them.

Ben Grandmont of Kitchener, Ont., said he bets