I remember, like most kids my age, disliking television commercials when I was growing up. There was nothing worse than getting to a great part of your show and then having to sit through an excruciating 2-3 minutes of commercials, waiting to get back to that point in the program.

Today’s generation barely knows what that’s like. They mostly stream shows that have no commercials, or just watch everything on on-demand and fast-forward through them. Easy-peasy.

The one place where you basically still have to sit through them though, is while watching live sporting events, and while doing so I’ve recently discovered one company’s new commercials in particular that absolutely turn my stomach. And after meeting Guy Gagnon and his staff and family recently, for a feature in this issue that begins on page 42, that company’s commercials annoy me even more.

What are those commercials for, you ask?

Hard Rock Bet. The new sportsbook and online casino platform operated by Hard Rock International, now available in Ontario.

Most people you speak to these days have had enough of all the commercials for online gaming and sports betting sites anyway. Many think that legalized online sports betting will eventually ruin more lives than drugs, and I don’t know that I disagree.

As someone who has ‘played the ponies’ to some degree since before age 10, I learned from a young age that if you wanted to gamble, you put your money up-front, and if you lost, well you lost. Deal with it. And if you don’t want to risk losing, don’t bet.

Now, people including teenagers, can simply load up an online betting account using a credit card, and off they go. Betting on credit? It’s incredible really.

The reason that I truly despise the new Hard Rock Bet commercials though, is a different one.

Everyone has an opinion, and mine isn’t necessarily wrong or right - it’s just mine. And I’m well aware that our sport survives on gambling dollars, that the OLG profits off of online gaming, and that when the OLG does well, it’s probably a good thing for us as a sport.

None of that is lost on me.

So what I’m just going to give you here is a simple timeline of FACTS. You can read them and form your own opinion.

MARCH 2012: The revenue-sharing part of the Slots At Racetracks Program was brought to an end by the Ontario Provincial Government. What many still don’t realize is that this didn’t only strip us of our 5% of the revenue, but it formally uncoupled Ontario casinos from being required to have live racing. Losing the hundreds of millions of dollars definitely hurt us, but in the long run the decoupling might hurt more.

SEPTEMBER 2017: Hard Rock International - a company owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida - acquired a 51% stake in the casino and racing facility at Rideau Carleton Raceway.

APRIL 17, 2025: It was announced that the backstretch stabling facilities at Rideau Carleton would immediately close.

MARCH 2026: With the purse money secured and the 2026 racing season about to begin, it was announced that Rideau Carleton Raceway would immediately cease all horse racing operations.

MAY 14, 2026: Hard Rock Bet officially became licensed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO).

JULY 22, 2026: Hard Rock Bet, the online sportsbook and casino platform, was officially launched for public use in the province of Ontario.

Those are facts.

Does anyone have a problem with this or is it just me?

I have no problem with gambling - I’ve done it my entire life. I have no real problem with sports betting either. Hell, I ran an illegal football pool in high school with the help of my football coach, who would photocopy my pick-sheets for me in the staff room.

Speaking of high school though, you were rewarded for performance. That’s how they set us up for real life. A good job got an A; a lesser job a B, and so-forth.

That’s how it’s supposed to work.

Here’s my Coles Notes version of the timeline above however:

Hard Rock International (an American company from Florida) was brought into a business in our nation’s capital in 2017. While profiting millions of dollars through the casino there, it took them approximately 8 ½ years to ruin racing at a track that was in operation for 63 years. So they closed up shop on the horse racing, ruined many lives in the process, and were rewarded with an online sportsbook and casino license two months later.

Maybe you see it differently?

As mentioned, I have no problem with gambling, but we have plenty of online sportsbooks already - more than 30 different ones in Ontario alone according to Google. Do we really have to give another one to a foreign company that allowed racing to die in our nation’s capital?

Watching those commercials angers me. How do you think Guy Gagnon, who now lives 485 kms away from his wife and his home, feels? How do you think Tim Lake, who now lives in a mobile home at First Line Training Centre and hasn’t seen his wife, kids or dogs in six months, feels?

Guy and Tim are just two of many hard-working Canadians who had their lives turned completely upside down by the closure of Rideau - a track that bet over $14.6 million (the fourth highest in Canada) on just 682 races in 2025. That’s a solid average of $21,456 per race.

It’s bad enough that everyone gets a participation ribbon these days, but being rewarded for failure? C’mon man!

Dan Fisher
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