Q&A With The Responsible Gambling Council About Betting and Super Bowl LIX Survey

Q&A with the Responsible Gambling Council following their Super Bowl LIX betting survey.

Q&A with the Responsible Gambling Council

The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) posted results from their Super Bowl LIX betting survey this week. The survey revealed a ton of information about sports betting in Ontario for Super Bowl LIX. Here is a Q & A with RGC associate director of prevention programs Melissa Toney.

In the report, RGC CEO Sarah McCarthy made a comment about gambling and sports betting.

“Gambling is random, but plans shouldn’t be,” McCarthy said. “Perceived knowledge of the game, persuasive advertising, and substance use can all influence how we gamble. A smart plan includes being mindful of the illusion of control and remembering that even with sports expertise, understanding the game, players or stats won’t boost the chances of predicting a random outcome.”

Q: Can you explain to me how someone who has no knowledge of the teams, players, how a league works, history, etc, can make a bet and be as successful as someone who is an expert?  

A: I think the key point that we’re trying to highlight is you can have that expertise, all of the knowledge about the game, a player, and you yourself may even play the game. Of course watching the shows on TV you’re hearing all the odds and all of the points and how you would want to consider a bet. Even with all that information, things can change in that game.

The RGC wants sports bettors to understand that their skills, expertise, and knowledge won’t guarantee a win when betting on sports. There are a ton of circumstances that can change the outcome of a game. 

It could be inclement weather. Somebody could get injured. Maybe that player gets injured during a game. We just want people to know at the end of the day, you’re betting on this thing to yield you a particular win and you can’t guarantee that you’re going to get that win.  

She acknowledged that someone may have more skill and expertise through experience than someone who doesn’t have any knowledge at all about a league or sport when placing a bet.  

At the end of the day with that skill, knowledge, and expertise, there still can be factors that can impact the outcome of that game. Essentially, while you may feel you have that edge, it still doesn’t necessarily guarantee what the outcome of that game will be because of those factors that are out of the average person’s control.

The intent of the messaging that we’re sending is really for the average person who is looking to place some bets. Players who kind of fit the target populations that we have our research on that we know tend to experience gambling harms. It’s around being mindful. We’re very aware that there are sports bettors who take a lot of time to learn, plan, and prepare for their bets. It certainly wasn’t intended to be a callous comment.  

“There may in fact be people who are successful. For us, our concerns are for bettors who aren't.” 

Bettors who are experiencing harms or have problems. Bettors who approach this in a way that perhaps isn’t as strategic, intentional, or thoughtful as someone who has a different perspective. We recognize that this messaging may not land for everybody.  

Toney acknowledged that someone may have more skill and expertise through experience than someone who doesn’t have any knowledge at all about a league or sport when placing a bet.  

At the end of the day with that skill, knowledge, and expertise, there still can be factors that can impact the outcome of that game. Essentially, while you may feel you have that edge, it still doesn’t necessarily guarantee what the outcome of that game will be because of those factors that are out of the average person’s control.  

“We’re very aware that there are sports bettors who take a lot of time to learn, plan, and prepare for their bets. It certainly wasn’t intended to be a callous comment.”

Q: What was the goal when this survey was put together? 

RGC has been doing a Super Bowl campaign for many years. Generally what we do is work with Leger which is a marketing and data firm. They execute our survey to their survey panel of Ontarians.

“Our goal for this survey is to understand the betting plans and behaviours of Ontarians during the Super Bowl.”

We want to understand how many people are going to be watching. Of those people who are going to be watching, how many people are going to be betting? How will they be betting? Who will they be betting with? How much are they going to spend? Those types of things because when we get that data, we’re able to analyze it and pull from that data some of the key messages that we develop just to make sure people are aware and prepared to place their bets.  

The intent is to understand who is betting and why. How much is the average person going to bet? Are they using platforms? Do they know if these platforms are regulated or not? Will they be using substances? That type of thing. 

Q: The tips for safer gambling or safer sports betting, are they based on some sort of studies or data? How was the list put together? 

Provincially we do have lower risk gambling guidelines that are set out by the province. Basically what we do is provide people with tips and things to consider, whether it's going to the casino or betting online that are going to lower their potential of risk.  

Toney spoke about how setting betting limits on your betting sites can be an effective way to control spending when betting.  

So somebody is betting on the Super Bowl and they’re doing it online. They bet $100 and for whatever reason they lose. Now they want to win back that $100. The ease of being able to increase how much you’re spending online is so much easier than it is having to get up and walk over to a bank machine.

When you’re in the excitement of the game, when you’re looking at all the odds and hearing all the conversation, it’s very easy to get emotionally caught up. You’re getting the dopamine hit and you’re getting all hyped up. So sometimes it's hard to interrupt and stop yourself in the moment and be like woah I just spent $600 and I didn’t even notice that. So you being mindful of setting a limit reduces the risk of you having to worry about financial impact after.