The provincial NDP have introduced a bill that would ban iGaming advertising in Ontario.
It would cover all of the different apps and services included, from DraftKings, FanDuel, theScore, bet365, and more.
Windsor-West MPP Lisa Gretzky was one of three MPPs to introduce the bill before the legislative session at Queen's Park ended this week.
Health professionals have been sounding the alarm about problem gambling, and most are pointing to the explosion of iGaming advertising and its availability.
Anyone who watches sports for even a few minutes will know the prevalence of these adds, with statistics showing they take up about 15% of the average sports broadcast.
Gretzky says there's a significant gap in provincial regulation for the current barrage of iGaming advertising we're seeing not only on TV, but at bus shelters, on buses, subways and online around the province.
"We know that there is mounting evidence that leads to not only people who struggle with gambling addiction getting in even deeper, but it is now encouraging our youth to begin gambling, and that is not a direction that we should be going."
The Canadian Mental Health Association, and other mental health and addiction experts, have said they've seen more and more people come forward looking for support with problem gambling and many of those are younger people.
Gretzky says when the provincial government passed the legislation approving iGaming last year, they didn't include the kind of safe guards against problem gambling that are in place in brick and mortar casinos all across the province.
She says if you go to a casino like Caesars in Windsor, there's information on the machines and at the card tables telling people where to get help if they're struggling with addiction.
"So there's some checks and balances there, with iGaming, those checks and balances aren't in place. Someone could just sign off of one site, or be excluded from one site, and immediately sign into another. And with the constant barrage of advertising it's telling them where else they can go," she said.
Gretzky believes this isn't a partisan issue, given the amount of professionals in the mental health and addictions field sounding the alarm on this issue.
Whether members from the government decide to support their bill, or want to introduce their own bill surrounding ads, she's hopeful it's something could get all party support and become law at some point.
"I think if they're listening to the experts and listening to people with lived experience, we heard stories of more and more high school students online gambling in class or on their lunch breaks. So I think this is something the government certainly should look at not as a partisan issue, but the right thing to do," she stated.
Gretzky says they're not against recreational gambling, but they just want to make sure the appropriate checks and balances are in place to protect people.
The province collects 45% of OLG internet gaming revenue, compared to only 5.7% of the gaming revenue from private iGaming platforms, so Gretzky and her colleagues believe letting those services promote their services is a lose-lose proposition for Ontarians.
People can expect to continue seeing these ads over the next few months however, as the provincial legislature adjourned on Thursday and won't be back in session until September.