Despite the Edmonton Oilers being one of the few hockey teams to refrain from putting advertisements on their jerseys over the last few years, they have done a complete reversal to the dismay of loyal fans.
The team recently announced that player jerseys and helmets would be emblazoned with gambling advertisements and people on social media are up in arms over the ordeal.
A short video was put out by the Edmonton Oilers introducing their “home jersey partner” – Play Alberta, the only regulated online gambling service in the province. The video quickly garnered hundreds of negative feedback comments as of Wednesday afternoon.
Shortly after releasing the video, the Oilers shared a post to X containing a press release describing the partnership. As of Wednesday afternoon, that post to X was ratioed, receiving more comments than likes.
Positive comments were far and few between, and many of the replies complaining of the advertising contained vulgar language alongside terms like “trash”, “disgusting” and “gross”.
Various teams revealed ads they would feature on their jerseys for the 2022/23 season in Sep. 2022. The Oilers were one of the few teams to abstain at the time. The team received praise in a popular Reddit thread this summer titled “Shoutout to the Oilers for not having ads on their Jerseys” and it featured fans from various teams celebrating the Oilers.
“So tired of seeing gambling ads everywhere,” said the top comment in a more recent thread.
While much of the fans’ displeasure has been towards advertisements on the jerseys, the press release from the Oilers confirmed that the Play Alberta logo will be on the team’s home jerseys and the GameSense, Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis’ gambling program will be displayed on the helmet for every home game.
Kandice Machado, the CEO of the AGLC, said that Play Alberta is proud to continue its partnership with the Oilers over the next few seasons in the team’s press release.
“We value our patrons and the fans of the Oilers and are thrilled to see PlayAlberta.ca, Alberta’s trusted gambling platform, along with the best-in-class responsible gambling program—GameSense—as prominent fixtures on the Oilers uniforms.”
PlayAlberta.ca generated $235 million in net sales last year, an increase of $42 million from 2022-23. That amount contributed to the $1.5 billion in total gaming revenue directed to Alberta’s General Revenue Fund.
Even before gambling ads began to appear virtually on the boards and ice during games, along with becoming featured on every other sign in cities, an Ipsos poll from Jan. 2023 showed that almost half of Canadians thought gambling ads had become out of control.
Almost half, 48%, of Canadians said that the amount of gambling advertising was excessive and needed to be cut back. Furthermore, 63% of Canadians said that there should be limits on the amount of or placement of advertisements, which have since exploded and are nearly inescapable.
While the Oilers had previously held back from displaying advertisements on their jerseys, the best hockey player of all time and the best player in the world currently, Wayne Gretzky and Connor McDavid, featured in a commercial promoting sports betting with BetMGM.