Illegal Betting Ads Flood BC Sports

0:00It's April 4th. Welcome in. This is Vancouver News today, where local news meets AI. I'm Corey with the story. Sports fans in British Columbia are glued to playoff hockey and major league baseball right now, but those TV screens are flooded with ads for illegal bedding sites. The only legal spot to wager here is the BC lottery corporations play now platform. Everything else from third party operators is off limits. That flood started after Ontario opened up private online bedding in 2022, letting those platforms blast ads across Canada. BC lottery spokesperson Matt Lee says his tanked their revenue growth, jacked up ad costs, and even hurt casino traffic as illegal sites lure folks with big sign up bonuses. Folks are fired up advocates like University of Toronto's Bruce Kid call it a tsunami poisoning sports, pushing addiction especially among young men. With Ontario's helpmine calls spiking 300% after legalization, youth surveys show more BC teens gambling online since 2018.

1:04Abills moving through the House of Commons to curb sports bedding ads nationwide, backed by BC lottery and inspired by Australia's restrictions and Europe's near bands. They're tracking addiction risks on play now, tweaking products to compete while aiming to cut problem-gambling scores. Researchers push for tougher rules like no credit cards for bets and ad blackouts on high risk games, reminding everyone lower risk guidelines are at. Gambling guidelines, California in supports at 1-888-79-56111 around the clock.