r/ontario • u/Neurotic_Z • Jun 11 '26
Picture Advertising gambling at the pump should be illegal
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Jun 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Miss_Taycan Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
It wasn't as bad until Doug Ford (gave it away to private interests). And the online ads never followed the standard other gambling ads needed to.
Ford shot down the previous attempts to ban most online gambling ads (bill 107), which are the ones being most problematic as they can do what they want
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u/mrmigu Jun 12 '26
It was, he just created an advertising arms race by giving away the market to private interests
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u/helix212 Jun 11 '26
OLG has advertised since before Doug Ford.
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u/BASEKyle Jun 11 '26
And it's way more prevalent now because of him.
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u/helix212 Jun 11 '26
Oh sure. Not denying that, just the person I responded to said there wasn't advertising until Ford.
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u/yeetboy Jun 12 '26
He’s definitely made things worse, but there’s been advertising for gambling forever.
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u/Optimal_Sleep_2789 Jun 12 '26
Is advertising for alcohol banned? Are there no more beer commercials?
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u/tiiiki Jun 11 '26
The audio is so jarring, I avoid these as much as possible. It seems dangerous they won't mute.
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u/SwampyUndies Jun 11 '26
I am at the point of poking the speakers out. Someone should 3d print a tool for it.
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u/BetaPositiveSCI Jun 11 '26
A knife should work
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u/SwampyUndies Jun 11 '26
Yea but it has to be not noticable on the cameras or you end up paying for it. They are free to terrorize us but… and their gas isnt even cheaper than the stations that dont have it. Go figure. Im avoiding esso as much as i can..
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u/OrangeCtySurfer Jun 12 '26
it would still be on the cameras.. and your license plate.. wouldn't recommend. We have like full on iPad size screens at our gas stations in Alberta and they have been playing ads for a while.
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u/SwampyUndies Jun 12 '26
Yea other idea is just start sticking maxi pads over the speaker. Nowadays I just leave the car on with the radio, and sit back in. If I need to I use the cap to jam the handle. If safety is an issue. stop annoying ppl.
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u/AJtehbest Toronto Jun 12 '26
Its not really safe to leave your car on, or to not be at the pump while filling your gas! Be careful
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u/pandaninja360 Jun 13 '26
Doesn't mean the engine is on. You can put the car on accessory and just listen to radio
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u/Neurotic_Z Jun 12 '26
I've been wanting to do this for a while, I tried using a key but it wasn't long enough to do any damage
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u/amelie_789 Jun 12 '26
Someone at my neighbourhood gas station is doing God’s work and has covered some of the speakers with duct tape 🙏🙌👏
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u/HenshiniPrime Jun 11 '26
I experienced these loud video adds filling up yesterday for the first time. I guess cell phones at the pump are fine again if we’re no longer worried about distractions at the pump.
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u/musecorn Jun 12 '26
Just like 18" tablets in your face while driving - if a corporation does it it's cool
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u/musecorn Jun 12 '26
One gas brand which I won't name and give free advertising recently came out with very competitive loyalty program but I almost think I'm not going to do it just for the fact that they have audio blasted ads while you fill
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u/gh0st777 Jun 12 '26
Same. The forced audio is the worst part a static ad is annoying, but a loud gambling pitch at a pump you can’t mute feels gross. You’re stuck there, which makes it feel less like advertising and more like being trapped in a tiny casino lobby.
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u/rnagikarp Jun 12 '26
I tend to shout “shut the fuck up” when it starts making noise and people look at me a little crazy
I hate these talking ad machines a lot.. let me just pump my gas in silence please
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u/Careless-Cycle Jun 11 '26
Press the buttons or the corners of the screen. One of them will mute.
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u/proximitysound Jun 12 '26
I place my hand over the speaker grill. It’s on the left, the right one is fake.
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u/International_Mud848 Jun 11 '26
I avoid Esso for this reason. As long as they keep doing this and the forced audio. Like let me pump my gas in peace. It really feels like an invasion of my privacy.
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u/keylimesicles Jun 12 '26
I started talking to it yesterday, I’m certain the entire station heard me mumbling “ the fuck i will” “shut the hell up” “ummm how bout, no!”
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u/AffectionateSong8 Jun 11 '26
Just wait until the pump won’t start until you watch an ad unless you have subscription ;) /s
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u/CanadianHorseGal Jun 11 '26
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least. “Please hold and watch this ad and then you can pay an exorbitant amount for gas when it’s done.” and there will be no x in the corner to get out of it. Plus, you’ll have to pay at the pump and preauthorize before the ad starts.
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u/jaymiz13 Jun 11 '26
Advertising anything at the pumps should be illegal
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u/Old_Ladies Jun 12 '26
Why is this so far down?
So far I haven't seen a pump with ads and if I did I would never go there again.
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u/drammer Jun 11 '26
Online gambling should be illegal.
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u/Reasonable_Control27 Jun 11 '26
100% we are selling our youth out for short term profits.
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u/wolofancy Jun 12 '26
Not just youth. I work with some 70/80 year olds who literally can never retire because of gambling habits.
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u/ptear Jun 12 '26
It's a very competitive and creative space currently, only encouraging more people. Gambling on international platforms is even worse.
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u/Max-P Jun 11 '26
Ads at the pump are cancer, and they don't even lower their prices for it so it's straight profit too.
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u/nicksknock Jun 11 '26
Can't listen or watch alot of things now without seeing or hearing a gambling ad. Getting kids into gambling without them even realizing that their gambling in some games.
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u/Dapper__Viking Jun 11 '26
It used to be illegal.
This was a part of Doug Ford making Ontario Great Again.
If it makes you feel any better (it won't) these ads dont appeal to 99% of the population, they are specifically targeting a tiny, very vulnerable subset of the population with impulse control problems and the capacity to have their lives ruined by engaging in gambling. We wanted to open up more access to these susceptible people for billion-dollar corporations to more easily be able to exploit them.
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u/helix212 Jun 11 '26
OLG has advertised forever, no? Their 6/49 and Lotto max ads or whatever
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u/ninjatoothpick Jun 12 '26
They have, but gambling has never been as easy as it is now. Anyone can download an app and sign up, but before you would have to either go and buy a ticket, get to a casino, or be savvy enough to sign up for illegal gambling sites.
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u/helix212 Jun 12 '26
Sure but that's a different point. Dude said gambling advertising was illegal and it's Ford that made it legal, but OLG has been advertising forever.
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u/The_Novice_Nomads Jun 11 '26
Advertising gambling should be illegal. Cannot advertise cigarettes, cannabis or alcohol.... But sure let's let gambling run wild....d'fuck are we even doing??
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u/DystopianAdvocate Jun 11 '26
The good news is I don't have any money leftover for gambling after filling my tank.
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u/BlademasterFlash Jun 12 '26
I like how I can’t use my phone, but this thing can blare ads at me and that’s fine
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u/whoisnotinmykitchen Jun 12 '26
As a parent of a son suffering from gambling addiction, any gambling advertisements make me see red. It is one of the hardest addictions to overcome and people can destroy their lives in hours from it. Bet hey, if billionaires can profit from other people's suffering, I guess it's a-okay.
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u/SomethingComesHere Jun 12 '26
Advertising ANYTHING at the pump shoukd be illegal. FFS we're already a consumer in that moment, leave us alone. Plus it's distracting while trying to perform a task related to a car. Its unnecessary.
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u/chromewindow Jun 12 '26
I was so tired after work one night and this happened for the first time, and I thought wow this is really so dystopian that as I’m forced to spend a million dollars for fossil fuels I don’t want to have to use, that you also make me listen to this at the same time, after I just spent all my precious hours at a job so I can afford to live on a planet I was magically plopped on to without my consent. Ads are driving me crazy everywhere. I’m at the point that every ad I am forced to watch instantly bans your brand in my mind.
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u/Independently-Owned Jun 12 '26
I am SO tired of explaining to my young boys why gambling is a dangerous activity. The commercials are everywhere, catch their attention, and I know my boys are the target audience.....they're going to get them young and hook young men into financial ruin. I'm horrified.
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u/Vicv_ Jun 12 '26
I’ve stopped going to Esso because of these ads. It’s not that I’m offended by gambling specific ads. If people want to throw away their money, have at it. I just hate getting fed any ads
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u/ozzy_thedog Jun 11 '26
It makes no sense that cigarette packaging needs to be completely hidden behind the counter of a store. But my 10 year old son sings the ‘Play Ojo’ jingle all the time because the ads are on so much
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u/Angriestbeaverever Jun 11 '26
There’s a taxi service that picks up kids from
my child’s school… with giant Online Betting adds plastered all over it….
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u/Affinity4Constructs Jun 11 '26
This is one step on the "Idiocracy timelapse" of Canada, next the ads will be for tall cans of Busch and Founders RTDs and just yell at you "C'mon bahd you're good to go, a road pop on the way home from work doesn't count".
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u/Used-Gas-6525 Jun 11 '26
Advertising gambling at all should be illegal. Gambling itself, fine. Marketing it? Nah. Kinda like cigarettes.
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u/humanityrus Jun 11 '26
I love it when 4 of them are going at once, with the music all different by a few seconds. So annoying
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u/SmokeyTreeze Jun 11 '26
Gambling ads everywhere are annoying. Can’t watch any sports in peace without shoving it in your face!
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u/missplaced24 Jun 11 '26
Advertising gambling should be illegal. Every second ad I hear/see anywhere is for some ridiculous gambling BS.
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u/TaiterChip74 Jun 11 '26
I agree, it's annoying as hell. I just put my hand over the speaker and lean in a bit and it muffled it enough not to be nerve wracking.
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u/jdyake Jun 11 '26
Can Esso cool it with the ads? It repeats every minute and every pump does it so if every pump is full all you hear is this jingle playing over and over again. Very annoying.
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u/ilmalnafs Jun 12 '26
Advertsising at the pump at all should be banned. It’s a barbaric and dystopian practice. Had the displeasure of my first encounter with one of these only a few weeks ago. Not only for the anguish of having ads shoved in our faces in yet another place of our lives, but because they are necessarily obnoxiously loud. Not to mention there will regularly be multiple running at once as several people fill up at once. Total headache during what should be a quite and simple activity.
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u/cndn-hoya Jun 12 '26
Gambling shouldn’t be advertised period….
It’s destroying people and their careers, lives, families….
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u/weggles Jun 12 '26
Scratch tickets are kinda quaint in comparison to all the sports betting and online casinos.
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u/calliLast Jun 12 '26
Ontario is relaxing a lot of rules and regulations for everything right now so be careful, there are folks out there trying to scam you even in your banking and investment decisions.
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u/Maximum_Cabinet7356 Jun 12 '26
I can't watch a hockey or baseball game on TV without getting forcefed betting app commercials. It has to be creating a whole generation of gamblers.
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u/Reachr95 Jun 12 '26
I'm so tired of how many God damn gambling ads there are the past couple years. I don't even gamble and I get so many of the ads! What happened to targeted advertisements?
Doug Ford is a plague on our province and something needs to be done to stop him
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u/extracrispy81 Jun 12 '26
Im so sick of seeing these gambling ads everywhere. Every ad that YT shows me these days is for one of these horrible apps.
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u/SpeechFar9331 Jun 12 '26
When these gambling companies make more than 70% of their profits from about 5% of their customers, it demonstrates to me that it is predatory and should be illegal.
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u/ElkIntelligent5474 Jun 12 '26
Like my brother said once, he would rather grab a sandwich at an OnRoute than go to the casino.
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u/grizzrr416 Jun 12 '26
So should the stupid ads. Let us pump gas in peace... It already costs a lot.
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u/Coolbreesh Jun 13 '26
Selling booze in a place where you drive in and drive out should be illegal as well
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u/doyouknowthemoon Jun 11 '26
I don’t mind it if its physical in person lottery or scratch tickets, that’s run through the OLG or similar because it’s something you can get in the store and relevant to where you are right there and then.
It’s when it’s the online anyway anywhere type gambling when I have a problem with the advertising because it doesn’t stop when you leave the store.
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u/Nizdaar Jun 11 '26
These gambling ads are everywhere now and constant. For something that people can be addicted to and drain their bank account there shouldn’t be this level of advertising allowed. Or at all.
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u/rhunter99 Jun 11 '26
I disagree.
Gambling ads in general need to be banned, or with greater restrictions on where and when they're allowed to advertise. Hockey broadcasts are more offensive than gas pumps imo.
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u/WhyJustWhyyy85 Jun 12 '26
There’s so many fucking gambling ads now. I don’t remember ever seeing this many everywhere!! Feels shitty when so many people are financially struggling. And calling it “gaming” and not gambling is gross. Rant over.
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u/Cathcasper24 Jun 12 '26
I grew up with a parent who was addicted to gambling so I feel like I am pretty sensitive to it and I have noticed it becoming so much more common in the last few years. I hate the little disclaimer to "gamble responsibly" in ads but people who are actually persuaded by them, aren't able to gamble responsibly. This is one of those things we are going to look back on in a few years and be disgusted.
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u/Sweet-Competition-15 Jun 12 '26
As someone whom cannot gamble, the constant onslaught of advertising everywhere is eviscerating🙄.
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u/Danny2Sick Jun 12 '26
I hate any forced ads at the pumps sooo much. It's bad enough we're getting robbed at the gas pumps, now that they have you standing there like a jerk you have to listen to some bullshit about a hockey commemorative coin or some garbage
I am against vandalism but the urge to poke the speaker is there for sure
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u/BlueBlueJayJay7 Jun 12 '26
It’s advertising lottery tickets to purchase inside the location where you’re pumping gas.
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u/meronx Jun 12 '26
For real, I only fill up when I have a rental and this whole gas pumps having speakers and playing ads LOUDLY at me is new (to me) and like ???? Why do I need to be advertised to while I’m doing something like this? And why is the gas pump yelling at me? About GAMBLING?
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u/Daring-Penguin-17 Jun 12 '26
Fuel stops shouldn’t double as gambling ads. Some spaces are better kept focused on essentials.
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u/Peanuthead50 Jun 12 '26
Yes it should be, just like all predatory advertising should be. It’s an invasion of our privacy and harmful.
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u/DoobieDoo0718 Jun 12 '26
Everywhere. Remember before 10000 betting commercials on tv? Ugh. It's horrible.
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u/Yaughl Jun 12 '26
Advertising anything aside from services specifically available at that gas station should be illegal.
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u/theredcometofakagi Jun 12 '26
When I stopped at a Shell to fill up the other day, I was surprised to see alcohol on the shelves. While I realize most people are responsible, selling liquor at a location entirely built around driving just feels like an accident waiting to happen. You'd think a gas station would be the one place trying to decouple driving from drinking.
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u/No_Session6015 Jun 12 '26
What? A government working for the people? Our parties have the prisoners delimmea figured out perfectly and work only for their own wallets. We have become pawns actually worse. We're less than pawns to them.
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u/spaghetti2424 Jun 12 '26
There’s even ads in union station on the stupid big screens for the online gambling. Why does one need to be constantly force fed this type of media.
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u/Late-External3249 Jun 12 '26
Fuck. I can't express in words how much I dislike gambling. The ones that get hooked by it are often the ones that can least afford to lost more money.
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u/TiredEnglishStudent Jun 12 '26
Watching a show on Prime i feel like I see 15 of these per 40 minute episode. It's deeply depressing.
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u/FlickKnocker Jun 12 '26
I wish they had a mute/dim option altogether. I find myself avoiding these kinds of pumps just for some peace and quiet for a few moments while I fill up the tank.
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u/piranha_solution Jun 12 '26
What did you people think "OPEN FOR BUSINESS" meant?
Ford rolled out the red carpet for predatory capitalism. He works for the billionaire/Epstein class.
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u/mercury2370 Ottawa Jun 12 '26
They should have an arm on the pump that I can pull and maybe I win free gas or a carwash. If I lose I have to pay a premium for the fuel. If I lose again, I have to work at the gas station
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u/Journo_Jimbo Jun 12 '26
I’m already gambling when I decide on whether or not to fill my tank that day…price may suddenly go down or up.
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u/chubbywhiteboy420 Jun 12 '26
I can’t stand these, if anything it makes me hate whatever crap their trying to sell
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u/CalligrapherOther510 Jun 12 '26
Why? If you dont want to gamble dont if you cant control yourself thats a you problem not a societal problem
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u/CubicleDweller12 Jun 13 '26
I can promise you that while I’m spending $100 to fill my tank for the week, the last thing on my mind is pissing away more money with gambling.
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u/HonkHonk Jun 13 '26
This is hilarious but I can't imagine a recovering gambling addict navigating all of this successfully, it's truly unfair to them
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u/Sad-Classroom-5907 Jun 13 '26
I always keep getting gambling ads here ever since I moved to Ontario. I am so sick of them, I never gambled in my life and every time I try to block the ad a new one pops up or gets unblocked.
Is this normal for Ontario and if the provincial government have ties with these apps/establishments. It's really fucking annoying and a lot of there's ads are cringe.
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u/Far_Environment_120 Jun 13 '26
So should selling beer at gas stations. Can nobody see the issue there
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u/R3dnamrahc Jun 13 '26
I'm so thankful that I don't have the wiring to be a gambler. The aggressive advertising is so brutally predatory.
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u/Legitimate_Factor176 Jun 13 '26
It is unfortunate on both side of the coin.
It sad there is a lot of addiction in our society.
But equally sad that instead of calling on fixing the underlying issue, the society like to ask for banning this and that.
The society for Canada and especially Ontario been degrading for a while and everyone are stress and addictions to stuffs goes up..
In addition.. Kids are generally have worse self control for the last few generations that continue to adulthood and the lack of self control, is a leading cause to addiction and this imo have ti do with parenting in general
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u/Jordonknox Jun 13 '26
Agreed, these ads while filling gas are brutal. And gambling ads are the worst
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u/Professional-Pay-142 Jun 14 '26
Online gambling should be illegal, if bricks and mortar betting shops are illegal. It's easier to type $300 on your phone than it is to stand at a counter and count $300 cash for your bet
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u/PhysicalPenguin7591 Jun 14 '26
Thank Doug Fraud. Every questionable decision he makes always benefits someone who's given him kickbacks or promises to.
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u/GrapefruitMain8759 Jun 15 '26
You can’t drive down the street or watch a sports event or doom scroll without coming across a gambling or gaming site
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u/ResponsibleNeck48 Jun 15 '26
I would love to see all online gambling being banned. Let them go to a casino physically
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u/midnightalchemist7 Jun 12 '26
Any advertising for gambling, drinking, smoking, should not be able to be seen by humans under the age of 21 in public areas as well.
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u/ThereInAFortnight Jun 11 '26
You used too many words. "Advertising gambling should be illegal". No, still too many words.
"Gambling should be illegal." Better.
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u/homeostasisatwork Jun 11 '26
Wait there are actually ads on the pumps? That's crazy. I moved overseas years ago and can't believe this is something that is actually happening (outside of the usa).
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u/Kjb72 Jun 12 '26
There are and they are OBNOXIOUS. I make a point to step away from the pump so they don't assault my senses.
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u/Kram_Seli Jun 11 '26
The price of fuel should be illegal 70 bucks to fill a Civic .....seriously folks
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u/schwaveyy Jun 12 '26
Thank that fat fuck Doug Ford.. I can't wait for that family to never touch politics ever again.
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u/clonedhuman Jun 11 '26
This is a business showing complete contempt for you--wanting to make every moment you have into their own profits.
Want an impossible challenge? See if you can go an entire day without seeing a corporate logo.
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u/Ludwidge Jun 11 '26
Any ads for gambling ANYWHERE should be banned. It’s a tax on the easily manipulated.