Ontario-based sports betting ads continue to be shown on TVs across Canada. For now, it's the networks' call

Two years after they first exploded onto television screens, ads for sports betting platforms only regulated in Ontario continue to bombard Canadians in markets where the websites are not regulated.

A coalition of lottery and gaming corporations from eight provinces across the country wants that changed.

"We are in a fight with people that are operating illegally in our provinces," said Marie-Noëlle Savoie, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation's chief compliance officer and vice-president of safer play & enterprise integrity — and a spokesperson for the Canadian Lottery Coalition.

"We're obviously not very happy about it."

When Ontario launched its open, competitive online gaming market in April 2022, it offered platforms that were previously unregulated and considered part of the "grey market" the right to advertise their products — in exchange for regulatory fees, taxes and adhering to responsible gambling protocols.

Over 75 platforms are now considered regulated entities in Ontario, but are still part of the grey market in other provinces who opted to limit their markets to their own gambling websites.

Savoie said some of the gaming platforms regulated in Ontario are operating in other provinces.

She said her group hoped the ads these platforms purchased on national networks would be separated by province. But for most of these media buys, she said the package is "if you buy in Ontario, you get Canada."

"It's not ideal when you have competitors, but they're actually not competitors in your market, showing up as if they are competitors."

Savoie said, in 2022, it was estimated the Canadian online gambling market was worth $3.8 billion and forecast to grow to $6.2 billion in 2026.

Brian Miller, with Lotteries and