sports gambling advertising
Hockey fans gather near Roger's Place In Edmonton before the hockey playoffs in May 2022. (Photo credit: Dreamstime)

It’s been over two years since Parliament legalized single-event sports betting in Canada, leading to an explosion in gambling advertisements on sports broadcasts, social media, billboards and arenas. That law, bill C-218, passed with all-party support by a margin of 303-15 in 2021. 

Max Silverstein, a student at the College of Sports Media in Toronto, now finds himself watching games that he previously had no interest in because the odds look favourable. 

Betting has also changed his experience of watching games he always cared about. 

“I would say that winning money isn’t more important than my team winning,” he said. “But sometimes I’ll ‘emotionally hedge’ and bet against the team I’m rooting for.” 

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Fin DePencier is a journalist, photographer and filmmaker based in Toronto. Over the past few years, he has reported on the ground from Ukraine, Armenia, Lebanon and Kazakhstan as a correspondent for Palladium...