Rob Kilner\u2019s clients carry gambling debts ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than a quarter million.<\/p>\n
One lost $250,000 on sports betting apps this year. Another spent $100,000 over two years, with his partner in the dark for most of it, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just signed up a husband who had not told his wife until about two months ago,\u201d said Kilner, a licensed insolvency trustee in Ontario.<\/p>\n
While those sums are above average, Kilner has watched both his tally of clients and the depth of their gambling debts balloon in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cTen years ago I didn\u2019t see anyone, because you\u2019d actually have to go into a casino,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s just the last two, three years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rise of online sports betting and casino apps has yielded big profits for gambling companies. But insolvency and psychology experts warn of dire consequences for a growing number of Canadians \u2014 young men, in particular \u2014 and recommend counselling, a payback plan and self-examination for those needing to dig themselves out of debt.<\/p>\n
Compared to gamblers who exclusively played the lottery, Canadians who reported betting online over the past year were 45 times more likely to qualify as problem gamblers, according to a new report from Greo Evidence Insights, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, and Mental Health Research Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cYoung adults are emerging as the group most at risk,\u201d said Matthew Young, chief research officer at Greo, a not-for-profit research organization with expertise in gambling.<\/p>\n
Nearly one in three adults aged 18 to 29 place bets online, according to the poll, which was based on data from more than 8,000 respondents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who do are far more likely to develop gambling problems and suffer related harms,\u201d he said in a release.<\/p>\n
The sheer ubiquity of betting amounts to a constant risk for some, who carry a virtual casino in their pocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can gamble walking down the street on your phone. You can gamble sitting in the comfort of your living room,\u201d said Scott Terrio, manager of consumer insolvency at Hoyes, Michalos & Associates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe former barriers to gambling \u2014 i.e., getting up off your ass and going to the casino or the track \u2014 aren\u2019t there now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada legalized single-event sports betting in August 2021, upending more than a century of prohibition on the practice in the hopes of winning back customers from offshore sites, U.S. casinos and illegal bookmakers.<\/p>\n
Ontario threw open the door to private betting platforms, while other provinces including Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta offer sportsbooks run by their lottery and gaming commissions.<\/p>\n
On top of being just a click away, daily fantasy sports companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel advertise relentlessly, as anyone who watched the recent Toronto Blue Jays playoff run can attest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is so prevalent and in your face,\u201d Terrio said.<\/p>\n
Typical debt totals for his clients range between $20,000 and $80,000, though he\u2019s handled cases of up to $263,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen statements where somebody was pulling cash advances out over the course of three or four days and it was in the tens of thousands from a few different banks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In Ontario, the internet gambling industry saw monthly cash wagers rise 31 per cent year-over-year to a record $8.6 billion in September, according to iGaming Ontario\u2019s latest market performance report. Online casinos make up the bulk of that total, while non-casino betting \u2014 the category includes sports \u2014 saw by far the biggest increase at 39 per cent.<\/p>\n
Official statistics on gambling debt are hard to come by, but Ontarians lost $329.4 million on the iGaming platform in September, 20 per cent more than in the same month a year earlier.<\/p>\n
The path out of debt isn\u2019t always pleasant.<\/p>\n
The first step is to acknowledge the problem, stop gambling \u2014 including by asking sites to ban you \u2014 and contact a non-profit credit counselling agency for financial advice.<\/p>\n
If the debt has spiralled, a second step is to work with a licensed insolvency trustee to consider a consumer proposal \u2014 an agreement with creditors to repay a portion of what\u2019s owed, often within five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey like to see 30, 40 per cent, depending on how bad the gambling was. But you get that at no interest,\u201d said Kilner.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, creditors impose harsher terms on gambling debt because it tends to accumulate more rapidly, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormal debt generally builds up over time. And from the selfish perspective of the banks, they\u2019ve probably made some money off you,\u201d Kilner said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been able to charge interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cGenerally, with gambling, it\u2019s quick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other experts said the percentage owed can range widely, and hinges on income, assets and prior bankruptcies.<\/p>\n
Declaring bankruptcy is an alternative that typically results in a lower payback amount. But it wreaks havoc on credit scores and usually demands a much shorter timeline, often 18 months, said Terrio.<\/p>\n
The toughest part of the process may be confronting the deeper reasons behind addictive behaviour.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk yourself, am I doing it for entertainment?\u201d said Kilner. If so, set a limit, as you might for a night out.<\/p>\n
Iris Balodis, associate director of the Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research at McMaster University, noted that pleasure might be the initial motivation, but compulsive behaviour can creep in quickly.<\/p>\n
With online betting apps, where users can put down money on almost any aspect of a sports game \u2014 whether a pitcher will throw a ball or a strike, how many rebounds a basketball player will rack up or even the colour of the Gatorade poured over the winning coach at the Super Bowl \u2014 gamblers can become all the more \u201cimmersed in a game, and that can feel very pleasant, where you forget everything else,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On top of the thrill of anticipation, betting offers a sense of community via chat groups and message boards, she said.<\/p>\n
But after addiction takes hold, even wins can feel like losses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey realized, \u2018Oh my gosh, I just won big. That means I\u2019m going to stay here and play it all until it\u2019s all gone again,\u2019\u201d Balodis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what really shows that this is an addictive disorder \u2014 that as you play more and more and it\u2019s more compulsive, the pleasurable aspect is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2025.<\/p>\n
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rob Kilner\u2019s clients carry gambling debts ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than a quarter million.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163,85,46,522,523],"class_list":{"0":"post-144098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}