While hundreds of people in Alberta have signed up for a voluntary ban from online and in-person gambling, advocates for stricter controls say the provincial government needs to do more. Former addict Leif Gregersen says he wants the province to “take more responsibility” because it’s now generating more income from gambling. The Alberta government made online betting ads legal in mid-July and stands to generate $76 million in revenue in its first year, with earnings forecast to rise in the future. The province is the second in Canada to officially permit private online gambling operators, after Ontario opened its iGaming market four years ago. “The government needs to take more responsibility because it’s legalized more and more gambling,” Gregersen told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday. “They’re always taking their cut, but they’re not paying back into the damage it causes.” Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) says 600 people have registered for the voluntary ban program since provincial iGaming legislation came into effect on July 13. Kandice Machado, AGLC’s chief executive officer, said the province has been running a gambling self-exclusion program for several years and expanded it when it introduced iGaming. “We’ve transitioned to a more modernized application process, which is digital, although there are still humans available to support those who want to have a call or need some additional support or resources,” Machado told CTV News Edmonton, adding that just under 4,000 people are active in the self-exclusion program. The province said in July that one per cent of gross online gambling revenue would be set aside to spend on problem gambling programs, resources and treatment. Louis Hugo Francescutti, a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta and the chair of the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, says the government should be spending a lot more than that to help addicts. “They say they’re setting aside one per cent, (but) that’s going to make no difference,” Francescutti, who’s also an emergency physician at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital, told CTV News Edmonton. “It’s got to be a number that is in relation to the problem that it’s actually causing, so 10 per cent would be a good number.” He said since the government is making it easier for people to start gambling, it should “make it easier for people with real gambling problems to seek help and get that help immediately as well.” “They’re trying to capture a population of new users,” Francescutti said. “Amongst those, there are going to be problem gamblers who are going to end up losing a lot of money and end up in emergency (departments) with suicidal thoughts.” A few operators are starting in Alberta with charity donations. FanDuel, a major online sportsbook based in the United States, said last month that it’s donating $30,000 to the Canadian Red Cross in Alberta and $50,000 to the Dollar A Day Foundation to support mental health resources. DraftKings, another U.S.-based sportsbook and online casino operator, said it would be giving $150,000 to Food Banks Alberta on Tuesday and that employees would be putting in some volunteer hours. Ontario established its regulated online gambling market in 2022 in order, it said, to move the sector from the grey market to one subject to standards and consumer protections. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario says the majority of online gambling in the province now takes place on regulated sites. That’s a good thing, Canadian Gaming Association president and CEO Paul Burns said in June, since it means most play is happening on platforms subject to strict rules and protections, and the industry takes its responsible gambling obligations seriously. “The regulated industry has a great deal of rules and controls,” he said. “We also know that there are a lot of sites that aren’t licensed in Ontario that access through social media platforms and advertise that way, and we’re seeing great volumes of those. Any rule or regulation won’t touch that, and so when we look at any construct around advertising, we have to deal with the whole issue.” A report on advertising prepared for the Canadian Gaming Association found that while spending countrywide on online gambling ads – including sports betting and excluding lotteries – rose sharply in 2022, it has since decreased a bit and makes up five per cent of total ad spending on TV. But Francescutti argues that any advertising is a problem for both today’s and tomorrow’s gambling addicts, and should be banned outright in the same way tobacco ads – once prevalent on television, radio and billboards and in newspapers and magazines decades ago – were outlawed. He said advertising is “not only impacting problem gamblers, but it’s creating a next generation.” “It’s trying to normalize that gambling is OK (and that) it’s fun. ‘Look, all these people are having a great time.’ And in (an ad targeting an Alberta audience), put a cowboy in front of a sign that looks like it’s filmed in Kananaskis, and everyone gets excited about it,” Francescutti said. “(In one), they even have a police car showing up, and the police officer and the prisoner in the car are getting excited about it. “You can’t be trying to treat the problem when you’re promoting it as well, so they’re growing the problem.” Machado said the AGLC is constantly monitoring what other jurisdictions are doing “and what opportunities we have to expand or enhance” the self-exclusion program. “AGLC will continue to regulate the iGaming market, along with land-based (gambling),” she said. “We set policies according to legislation to ensure that we’re providing the best experience for Albertans (and) also the safest experience we can for Albertans.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Kenny and The Canadian Press
