Casino Ads Face Ban in Canada

This falls in line with a broader tightening of online and offline gambling in Canada. Despite the fact that online casino advertising is not allowed in Canada, some operations have managed to find a loophole in the system and continue to publicize their online services via Canadian television.

What we have is a surge in popularity of poker programming on television. Popular poker tournaments are broadcast and of course poker see this as the perfect arena for their advertising in order to reach their target market. "With poker's recent surge in popularity, sports channels are filling their broadcast schedules with Texas Hold 'Em tournaments, and poker websites are eager to advertise says Rick Broadhead an internet consultant based out of Toronto, Canada.

The loophole is that since the poker often features free gaming in free play mode they can advertise on television as essentially an online gaming service, not necessarily used for gambling purposes. "The Criminal Code makes it illegal to advertise Internet gambling in Canada, but many broadcasters welcome advertising from 'play money' versions of popular casinos like Party Poker, Tiger Gaming and Poker Stars Broadhead continued. With mounting pressure on the television regulatory board to ban all online casino related material from Canadian airwaves, the policy may take effect in the near future.