Bob Mackin
B.C. Lottery Corporation is giving away a suite at B.C. Place Stadium during Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour weekend in December.
BCLC logo
Does this mean the B.C. NDP government is breaking Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) advertising standards?
A 250,000-run of $25 scratch and win tickets goes on sale Aug. 7 for what is described as “The Concert of a Lifetime Giveaway.” The draw takes place Oct. 30 for the grand prize, a suite for 14 people at B.C. Place. Travel and accommodation not included.
The BCLC website does not specifically name Swift, who is scheduled to play sold out B.C. Place shows on Dec. 6-8. But it does drop a big hint: “Apart from being one of the world’s biggest multi-platinum artists, they also have a reputation of being an amazing performer.”
GPEB’s Advertising and Marketing Standards for Gambling in B.C. include a section on protecting those under the legal purchase age of 19.
It expressly states that advertising and marketing materials “must not contain role models, and/or celebrity/entertainer endorsers whose primary appeal is to minors.”
Taylor Swift B.C. Place concert ad (BC Place/Swift)
The key word may be primary. Swift appeals to various demographics. A Morning Consult survey found 45% of fans are millennials and 11% are Gen Z. But Swift enjoys a fanbase of teenage girls and children who rely on their parents to buy tickets and merchandise. Some of them scored tickets last November, many others did not.
Premier David Eby, himself, acknowledged Swifties in his own household when he issued a social media plea last September for Swift to bring the tour to B.C. Place.
“Ms. Swift. It’s David Eby, premier of British Columbia,” he said. “I’m not accustomed to begging, but for my own constituency of my loving and beautiful wife and my son, Ezra, please come to Vancouver, British Columbia.”
It isn’t the first time BCLC raised eyebrows for connecting with a celebrity who enjoys fans not old enough to legally gamble. BCLC paid then-Canucks’ goalie Roberto Luongo $160,000 to appear in ads for PlayNow online poker in 2011.
Research by McGill University youth gambling expert Dr. Jeffrey Derevensky found 9% of high school students have gambled for money on the Internet. A 1996 study from Laval University found adolescents who gamble excessively are at increased risk for delinquency and crime, the disruption of relationships and impaired academic performance and work activities.
In the same year, a University of Calgary study said pathological gamblers reported that they started gambling seriously at 9 or 10 years of age.
Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.
