When following the Edmonton Oilers’ playoff run so far, you may have seen ads for Betway on display.
Because during Edmonton-hosted games of the Stanley Cup final, an advertisement for Betway.net has appeared on the boards — and in the ice — of the Rogers Place arena.
Betway is an online betting brand that operates in various countries across the globe. And it’s also a brand that is part of Ontario’s regulated online gambling market.
But it’s not a legal option for Albertans, as the province has only one legal regulated site for sports betting: Play Alberta.
To sports-gambling expert Victor Matheson, he says it seems Betway likely has a play in mind that involves getting its name out there while avoiding the direct promotion of an out-of-market betting service in Alberta.
“Betway has made a bet on the NHL and the Stanley Cup,” said Matheson.
A Betway site without betting
Betway has a partnership with the NHL that grants it branding rights during the regular season and through to the Stanley Cup.
But the company told CBC News the advertising seen in Edmonton during the finals is for its “global website,” which doesn’t feature gambling content.
The Betway.net site provides information about sports, including recent scores from events around the globe — including NHL playoffs.
Matheson said it seems the promotion of this site must provide a legal path for having this advertising in place in this manner.
“I kind of find that amusingly clever, I guess,” said Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
The province’s legal betting site has also had its logo displayed on the boards in Edmonton during the finals.
Karin Campbell, the manager of communications for Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) said that Play Alberta and Oilers have a partnership of their own.
Campbell reiterated that Play Alberta is the province’s only legal site for sports betting.
But will Albertans watching these games understand that Betway is not a brand for them to use?
‘A sports information site’
Brandon Aboultaif, the press secretary for Service Alberta minister Dale McNally, said Albertans know that Play Alberta is the site to use and the AGLC works to reinforce that message.
Echoing a point made by Betway, Aboultaif said the company’s ads on display in Edmonton point to “a sports information site,” rather than a betting site.
Both Aboultaif and AGLC suggested contacting the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) about the issue — though the regulator denied having jurisdiction over such advertising.
“The CRTC does not regulate gambling organizations,” the regulator told CBC News in an emailed statement.
“Additionally, the CRTC does not regulate the content of advertisements, except for advertising to children and alcohol ads.”
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Charlottetown Senator Percy Downe is promoting legislation to require the federal government to control sports betting advertisements that are everywhere you look, online and on television. It would also develop a national framework to alleviate problem gambling.
Yet Aboultaif further said if there are “complaints or concerns” over the CRTC’s “current regulations,” those should be raised with the regulator and the federal government.
In Ottawa, a senator has put forward a bill to establish a national framework for regulating the advertising of sports betting. But the proposed legislation hasn’t reached the House of Commons.
A big game, a big opportunity
The Oilers are back home in Edmonton for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final on Friday night, providing another opportunity for the Betway brand to be in the spotlight.
Jason Jackson, a spokesperson for the broadcaster Sportsnet, said the Oilers and the NHL control what ads appear on the ice and on the boards.
Yet neither the team, nor the league, responded to emailed questions about whether the Betway.net ads will recur.
If they do, they will presumably get in front of a lot of eyeballs: the NHL said 8.5 million viewers in North America tuned in for Game 5.
Matheson suspects Betway would have preferred to see a different Western Conference team, other than the Oilers, in the Stanley Cup final — like the Colorado Avalanche, a team that plays in a U.S. state where the Betway brand is a legal option.