Who May Sell the Bet? A Comparative Coding of Gambling Advertising Rules in Canada's Provinces and Territories, with a Reusable Codebook

Gambling advertising in Canada is regulated, if at all, province by province, while the advertisements themselves run on national broadcasts and platforms. This study codes the public rules governing gambling advertising in all 13 provinces and territories and at the federal level as of 27 October 2026, against five variables: use of athletes, use of celebrities and influencers, a test for appeal to minors, public advertising of bonuses and other inducements, and a mandatory responsible gambling message. A reusable codebook distinguishes binding rules, partial restrictions, operator-only policies, voluntary industry codes, pending bills and rules not found. Binding public advertising rules were found in five provinces. Only Ontario's internet gaming standards restrict all five practices; Alberta (from June 2026) and British Columbia (from April 2026) restrict most of them, with British Columbia allowing athletes in some sports betting advertising. In eight jurisdictions no binding public rule was found. A voluntary national industry code in force since January 2026 is in several respects stricter than most provincial law, and a federal framework bill (S-211) was before a House of Commons committee at the cut-off. Files: Smith_2026_Canada_gambling_advertising_rules.pdf (paper, with codebook in Appendix A and instruments in Appendix B); canada_gambling_ad_rules_coded.csv (one row per jurisdiction, instrument and variable, with evidence summary, source tier and URL; UTF-8); canada_gambling_ad_rules_instruments.csv (instruments with type, scope and effective date); canada_gambling_ad_rules_matrix.csv (summary matrix). Codes: Y, P, O, V, N, NR (not reported in sources reviewed), NA, PEND; an asterisk marks values coded where the rule text itself could not be retrieved. Corrections are welcome and will be released as new versions.