A University of Guelph marketing professor is available to discuss a new editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that argues that Canada needs more effective regulations to protect youth from gambling advertising.
Dr. Timothy Dewhirst is a professor and senior research fellow in marketing and public policy at the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics. He researches policies around advertising for addictive substances such as tobacco and cannabis, as well as marketing and public policy, and sports and entertainment marketing.
In 2024, Dewhirst publicly complained about ads for an online gambling website prominently displayed at an Oakville hockey arena where his teenage son was competing. That prompted an advocacy group to lodge a complaint with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and the ads were removed.
Dewhirst later wrote an opinion piece for The Globe and Mail in which he noted that gambling is an addictive behaviour with potential harm and argued that regulations for sports betting advertisements aren’t being enforced effectively.
Dewhirst is associate editor of the journal Tobacco Control and serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing.
He is available for interviews.
Contact:
Dr. Timothy Dewhirst
dewhirst@uoguelph.ca