Gambling Weekly News Summary in Canada – 2025/12/06
Windsor Hospital CEO Calls for Sports Gaming Advertisement Regulation
The Chief Executive Officer of Windsor Hospital in Ontario, Bill Marra, has joined others in the call for action on online sports gambling advertisements.
As the CEO of Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, Marra overseas a program for problem gambling, which has seen attendance double in the past five years for its inpatient and outpatient clinics.
In an open letter, Marra discussed how while money has flowed “generously” to gambling platforms, the government and advertisers, he believes that this success must come with responsibility.
While he acknowledged that a complete ban on online gambling would be unrealistic, his letter describes how he wants to look at how to mitigate risk, and target advertising while also investing “more resources into this health-care crisis.”
He added “I felt certain that it was time … that we come out and express our concerns. It is very difficult for anyone that’s monitoring a sporting event, reading something online or watching it live to not be exposed to online gambling enticements.
He isn’t the first to call for action on gambling advertisements, as dozens of senators have signed a letter to the Prime Minister to ban sports betting advertising in Canada.
Canada Premier League Players Complete Integrity Training for the Second Year
Nearly 200 Canadian Premier League players and staff have now completed integrity training in 2025, ran by the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) and the Professional Footballers Association Canada (PFA).
The IBIA and its partners bet365, Betway and FanDuel have invested $300,000 into the initiative, and 2025 marks the second year the education programs have ran. Athletes and sports organizations are offered free in person integrity training, with all eight CPL clubs completing the training this year, as they did last year.
The aim of the training is to teach athletes how to identify, avoid and report sports related integrity risks, with three pillars of rules, responsibility and reporting. The pillars cover what athletes need to know about sports betting related match fixing and highlights threats from match fixing.
As a non-profit organization, the IBIA is funded by operators to ensure betting integrity is maintained by sports personnel and athletes.
British Columbia to Introduce Gambling Regulation to Prevent Money Laundering
British Colombia has announced plans to open a new independent gambling enforcement office and introduced gambling regulations to prevent money laundering.
A new gaming control act was introduced by the Public Safety Ministry, which will come into effect on April 13, 2026, to update current frameworks as well as add new regulations to prevent money laundering and fraud.
The current Gambling Policy and Enforcement branch will transition to the Independent Gambling Control Office, with aims to provide regulatory oversight. It will be managed by the British Colombia Lotter Corporation, charitable gambling and British Colombia’s horse-racing industry.
Additionally, the office will have a general manager who will make and enforce regulations in gambling and horse racing and allow for the new requirements to “help prevent and detect problem gambling and unlawful activity, including money laundering, in casinos and online.”The act was passed in 2022, and include recommendations from both the German Report and the Cullen Commission.
Ziv (Steve) Chen
CEO at Major League Content
Ziv has been working in the iGaming industry for more than two decades, serving in senior roles in software developers like Playtech and Microgaming. He then followed his lifelong passion of writing and became a fulltime journalist, covering casinos, sports betting, legislation and other gambling topics and news with a specialty in North America.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ziv-steve-chen-94b01b5/
