Canadian lawmakers were preparing to vote on Bill S-211, a measure that would require a national framework for sports-betting advertising rather than immediately impose a federal advertising ban. The legislative push came as a CBC and University of Bristol analysis counted 3,000 gambling messages across seven televised 2026 NHL playoff games involving Canadian teams.
The review found gambling advertisements or logos appeared two to three times a minute. They were placed on rink surfaces, jerseys and helmets, and shown in commercial breaks; the broadcasts also included advertising for prediction markets. Ninety-five per cent of the recorded messages carried no information on harm reduction or age restrictions.
The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage was scheduled to vote on the bill in late October. If approved by the committee, it would go to the House of Commons for third and final reading. The Senate passed the bill on Oct. 21, 2025, and MPs voted 291-28 at second reading on April 22 to refer it to the heritage committee.
The proposal, sponsored in the Commons by Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger after Marty Deacon first spearheaded it in the Senate, directs the Minister of Canadian Heritage to develop a national framework. The government’s published bill summary says this would cover sports-betting advertising and national standards to prevent risk among people negatively affected by gambling.
It would require consultation with federal departments, provinces and territories, gaming regulators, Indigenous organizations, researchers, and the advertising and gambling industries. The framework could identify measures to restrict advertisements, including limits on their number, scope or placement, and limits or prohibitions on celebrity and athlete participation. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission would also have to review whether its rules adequately reduce harms from the proliferation of sports-betting advertising.
The bill itself does not prescribe the final regulations. Chagger said she hoped the process would eventually prohibit gambling promotion on sportswear and during live sports, restrict advertising at certain times and bar athletes and celebrities from working with gambling companies. The minister would be required to table a report within a year of the law taking effect.
Ontario and Alberta oppose the measure. Alberta’s Minister Dale Nally said it would create a two-tier regulatory system and put future provincial revenues at risk, while Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey argued that the province should retain responsibility for gambling-advertising regulation.
Ontario has already tightened one element of its rules. Since Feb. 28, 2024, registered operators have been barred from using active or retired athletes in advertising, except for responsible-gambling promotions. The provincial standard does not prevent operator logos appearing on helmets or jerseys through team sponsorships.
The Canadian Gaming Association, which represents 80 casino and online sports-betting companies, also opposed national regulation. It argued that provinces should set their own standards and that advertising steers consumers to regulated operators that are subject to oversight and consumer-protection requirements. A coalition of 12 mental-health organizations and 28 addiction researchers separately asked Parliament for national action.
The debate follows changes to Canada’s gambling market since Criminal Code amendments allowing provinces and territories to conduct and manage single-event sports betting took effect on Aug. 27, 2021. A 2024 report by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction and Greo Evidence Insights said the legal change and Ontario’s private online-market opening were followed by an appreciable rise in gambling advertising, particularly in live sports broadcasts. It also found no national or provincial-territorial monitoring system for gambling-related harm.
The NHL results echoed a 2024 CBC Marketplace study with the same University of Bristol research team, which found thousands of ads and product placements across five NHL games, at a rate of up to three a minute. Gambling logos during games can also persist in news highlights and social-media clips shared by viewers, widening their exposure beyond the original broadcast.
Several European countries have adopted tighter rules. Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France and Germany limit certain gambling advertising to after 9 p.m., while Belgium, Italy and Spain have introduced very extensive or near-total restrictions on gambling sponsorship in sport. France requires operators to secure regulatory approval for promotional strategies and submit an annual plan to reduce addiction.
