Should gambling taxes fund sports? Former Olympian says it's a 'devil's bargain'

The government will be making a "devil's bargain" if it moves ahead with a recommendation to boost revenue for sport organizations through taxes on sports gambling, former track and field Olympian Bruce Kidd said.

A commission this week strongly urged the federal government to find new sources of revenue, including sports betting, to address a funding crisis hurting national sport organizations. 

Kidd said that move would legitimize and normalize sports betting which can be highly addictive.

"We don't want sport encouraging a demonstrably harmful practice," said Kidd, a retired professor of sports policy at the University of Toronto.

The Future of Sport in Canada Commission found Canada's sport system is broken, plagued with widespread abuse at all levels, and federal funding has fallen behind the system's demands. The final report called for sweeping reforms including for Ottawa to increase core funding for national sport organizations to account for inflation over the past 20 years. 

Kidd and his advocacy group sent a letter to the secretary of state for sport Adam van Koeverden, calling on him to ignore the recommendation to consider sports betting as a new source of revenue.

"It's a devil's bargain," said Kidd, who is also chair of the Campaign to Ban Gambling Ads.

"I fear that sports bodies will become advocates for sports betting because they indirectly benefit from the proceeds."

Asked by CBC News what he thinks of using taxes on sports betting and professional sports to boost funding, van Koeverden called it an interesting idea.

"I think it's an interesting one, and we want to see more contributions from the private sector," van Koeverden said.

But Kidd said the idea is reminiscent of a strategy imposed by the