© Provided by The Gazette Karl Subban.
Karl Subban wants to see the National Hockey League get rid of gambling ads on its hockey broadcasts.
Like many hockey fans, P.K. Subban’s father is unhappy with the amount of gambling ads and in-game sponsorship of sports betting.
“I’d be sitting watching the hockey game and there are these ads and they didn’t leave a good taste in my mouth, a good feeling in my stomach,” said Karl Subban, in a phone interview Thursday from the airport in Kingston, Jamaica, where he was just about to board a flight home to Toronto.
“When we sat as a family, when P.K. was younger, we never had to worry about the commercials,” said Subban. “I never had to say ‘Geez I don’t want my kids to watch this.’ So when I’m sitting there with my grandsons or grand-daughters, I’m saying ‘I don’t want them to be exposed to gambling ads.’
“And the other thing is they’re using celebrities and superstars and these are the people young people love. These superstars and celebrities, they are leaders and you know what, leaders influence others and leaders have followers. We want young people to continue to love their celebrities and love their superstars but guess what? We don’t love everything they’re doing and we don’t want them to love the fact that they’re promoting gambling.”
Karl Subban feels strongly enough about this issue that he has joined the group Ban Ads for Gambling, which wants ads for sports betting removed from the broadcasts of hockey games. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has also called for a ban on the use of celebrities to sell sports betting.
Two of the most famous hockey stars to lend their name to sports gambling are Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews, who is associated with Bet99, and Wayne Gretzky, who is aligned with BetMGM.
“I can’t tell (Auston Matthews) what to do just like I can’t tell P.K. what to do, they’re adults,” said Subban. “However I don’t have to agree with it. I still love Auston Matthews. I still love Wayne Gretzky. But I don’t love that they’re in these ads promoting gambling because young people look up to them. They want to be like them. So they might think gambling is okay when it’s not.”
And if P.K. Subban does an ad for sports betting, his dad isn’t going to be amused.
“We love our kids, we love them dearly, but we don’t always love everything they do or say,” said Subban. “So if any of my five children decide to participate in these commercials, I’m going to say the same thing. I don’t smoke and if they smoke I won’t agree with it. I don’t like it but I can’t stop them. That’s the way I look at it.”
He has yet to discuss the matter with P.K., who retired from the NHL after last season and is now an on-air personality on the ESPN network.
“I know he’s heard about it and he’s probably going to say — ‘Daddy, what if I get a deal this summer?’,” said Subban. “What I’ll say is ‘P.K., I still love you son, but I don’t love that you’re in an ad promoting gambling,’ if that’s the case. That’s what parents do. We love them and support them but you can’t be them, they can’t be you.”
Neither Sportsnet nor the National Hockey League immediately responded to a request for comment.