Governments must clamp down on online gambling before it's too late, public health experts say

Adam Pettle acknowledged that he had a gambling problem as a teenager when he started hiding his behavior.

Pettle felt powerless to quit and struggled with his mental health. Eventually, the debts he had accumulated led him to sell his family's home.

“I just reached the point where I was completely defeated. I have such a beautiful family that I love so much, and I thought the only way out would be if they could cash in my life insurance policy,” Pettle said.

The rise of online gambling – such as virtual casinos, bingo and sports betting – allows people to gamble anytime, anywhere. Pettle says it made his situation worse.

“[Addiction] is a progressive disease in my opinion,” said Pettle, 51, who lives in Toronto The current onehost Matt Galloway.

“Things progressed so quickly when I had a casino sports book, a race track, in my pocket 24 hours a day.”

While the gambling industry continues grow globally with the rise of online gambling, a recent report from the medical journal The Lancet's The Gambling Commission is calling on governments to consider gambling as a public health problem.

Malcolm Sparrow, one of the report's authors, says this puts gambling in the same category as alcohol And tobaccoidentified by the World Health Organization as issues of public interest.

“[They’re] things that we probably won't ban completely most of the time because a lot of people enjoy them, but where they are [an] A clear link has been established with adverse effects on health, finances, employment, etc.”

According to the report, gambling is linked to a variety of harmful intergenerational effects that extend beyond the individual, and can cause financial ruin, impact relationships and increase the risks of suicide and domestic violence.

The authors also say that tackling the harms associated with gambling is crucial to prevent widespread harm to people's health and wellbeing, and call on governments around the world to take action.

Impact on Canada

Statistics Canada estimates that in 2018almost two-thirds of Canadians gambled in the past year. The data estimated that approximately 300,000 Canadians were at moderate to severe risk of developing a gambling problem, where gambling begins to negatively impact a person's life.

Sports betting on one event was legalized in Canada in 2021, and the following year Ontario became the first province in Canada to legalize online gambling, allowing for a regulated market where private gambling companies could operate.

Other Canadian regions, such as British Columbiamanage regulated gambling through provincial websites.

Since online gambling was legalized, gambling has increased sports betting advertisements on various media platforms and in sports stadiums, with one CBC study finding that gambling messages averaged up to 21 percent of each broadcast.

“A lot of young people are watching these sports games… they're essentially being programmed to want to gamble,” says Nigel Turner, a scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health.

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For the 2023-24 fiscal year, iGaming Ontario, the provincial agency that manages online gambling, reported $63 billion staked on the platform and $2.4 billion in gaming revenue.

Turner says yes has been an increase in the number of monthly average calls to the Ontario Problem Gambling helpline.

Before the pandemic from January 2016 to February 2020, there were 131.1 calls to the helpline every month. After online gambling was legalized in Ontario, calls increased to 184.1 calls per month from April 2022 to January 2023, with the majority now related to online gambling.

He also says younger men are making a larger share of calls.

People typically reach out when they are in crisis — often related to the fallout from losing large amounts of money that affects their mental health, relationships with others and career, Turner said.

Turner questions whether current efforts by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), the provincial agency responsible for regulating gambling, are enough to protect the well-being of its customers.

In a statement, the AGCO said in part: “Regulated iGaming operators in Ontario proactively intervened an average of nearly 600 times per month to reassess customer risk levels, to contact players directly to attempt to reduce potential risks, or to limit or eliminate risks.” players no longer gamble at all to avoid damage.”

Changing the frame

The Lancet report calls for immediate and coordinated action from national and local governments, as well as intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations.

The report has seven recommendations, including:

• A call for governments to prioritize health and wellbeing over competing economic interests when setting policy, and to recognize that gambling is a public health problem.
• Gambling regulation in all countries, regardless of legal status, to reduce exposure to and availability of gambling, provide affordable and universal support and treatment for gambling harm, and denormalize gambling.
• Well-resourced, independent and adequately empowered regulators in jurisdictions where online gambling is permitted to protect public health and welfare, including regulations enforcing minimum age restrictions, supported by mandatory identification.

Turner, who was not involved The Lancet'Research shows that approaching problem gambling as a public health problem allows it to be viewed as a societal problem, rather than focusing solely on individuals.

He also notes that with an increasingly globalized gambling industry, a coordinated approach is needed to tackle gambling harms across all jurisdictions.

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In Canada, the increase in sports betting advertisements has prompted the Senate-initiated move Bill S-269which aims to create a national framework to regulate these, similar to the way tobacco and alcohol advertising is regulated. The bill has been read for the third time, but is still awaiting reading in the House of Commons.

Pettle, who is now recovering with the help of his family and therapy, remains deeply concerned.

“This is a disease that is genetic and affects generations, and I am terrified for the next generation,” he said.