Media portrayal of sports betting in Canada before and after Federal Bill C-218

In 2021, Federal Bill C-218 allowed the legalization of single-event sports betting in Canada. The rationale and repercussions of Bill C-218 received substantial media coverage. We sought to characterize the themes and voices that were present in Canadian newspaper coverage of sports betting, using the Canadian Newsstream database to identify print articles published in two time periods, before (Jan 2020–June 2021) and after (July 2021–Dec 2022) the bill was passed. We coded articles for seven main themes, associated subthemes, and voices. In 146 articles, dominant themes were Legality (85.6%) and Industry Change (83.6%). Although Technology (52.7%) was well represented, discussion of In-Play Betting as a subtheme was coded in only 21.9% of articles. Gambling Harm and Reform were less represented, in less than a quarter of articles. In terms of voices, Industry representatives (70.5%) were most frequent. Few articles featured voices of Academics, Treatment Providers/NGOs, and people with Lived Experience of gambling harms. We argue that the Canadian media coverage of the legalization of sports betting has emphasized the corporate and economic impacts, with less attention to the risks of harm associated with the expansion of sports betting, and changes to the underlying gambling product.