CMHA calls for ban on gambling advertisements

The Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario has submitted a request to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission.

The submission calls on the prohibition of all advertising for online gambling.

The C.E.O of the Canadian Mental Health Association of Waterloo Wellington, Helen Fishburn, stated that a complicating factor is that many people are feeling financial stress.

“People are looking for ways to make easy money,” Fishburn explained. “Gambling actually looks really easy. It looks like a game. It looks exciting. It looks fun. It can be an incredibly slippery slope.”

In addition to a request for an outright ban, CMHA Ontario is also proposing constraints on gambling advertisements, specifically for youth.

Recommendations include limiting advertising to hours when they are least likely to be viewed by youth and to include the harms of gambling in all marketing.

The submission to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission cited several surveys that showed student use of online gambling increased 11 per cent between 2019 and 2021.

Fishburn explained that one of the first signs of a youth struggling with gambling is having an obsession with money.

“Some of the other ones are just kind of the regular things. Changes in sleep patterns. Either sleeping too much or not sleeping enough.” Fishburn remarked.

Fishburn added that other signs include a withdrawal from friends and failing grades due to being unfocused.

The Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario also stated in their request that more than 300,000 Canadians are reported to be at risk of gambling-related harms.

Fishburn suggested approaching the education of gambling repercussions in the same way that cigarette companies provide warning labels on every package.

“People are losing their homes. They’re losing their families. They’re becoming suicidal because they have gotten in so deep and they’ve lost everything,” Fishburn said. “They just don’t see the value anymore in living. That’s the extreme. That’s what we’re trying to protect against.”

Citing a poll that the organization conducted in 2022, the CMHA submission stated that 35 per cent of Ontarians who gamble increased their gambling activity since 2020.