The gambling landscape is being reshaped by emerging technologies and changing consumer expectations. Industries once distinct from gaming are increasingly converging with it, blurring the line between entertainment, chance and risk. Staying ahead of this disruption requires us to challenge long-held assumptions about who gambles, what motivates them and how player health fits within this rapidly evolving marketplace.
We sat down with BCLC’s Ryan McCarthy, Director of Player Health, to explore both sides of this dynamic: how the gambling industry is adapting to a changing landscape and how the evolution of gambling itself is reshaping other industries, consumer behaviour and broader social norms.
This following conversation is part one of the ‘Disruption Paradox’, a three-part series we’re releasing ahead of the New Horizons in Safe Gambling Conference taking place November 2-4, 2026 in Vancouver.
Q. The theme of this year’s New Horizons Conference is ‘The Disruption Paradox’. What exactly does this mean?
“The disruption paradox is the idea that gambling is reshaping other industries, while those industries are simultaneously reshaping gambling. You can see that dynamic clearly in the relationship between sports and betting. The integration of odds in sports broadcasts, in-game betting and proposition bets have changed how some fans experience games, while shifts in sports, technology and consumer culture continue to influence how and when people gamble. At the same time, emerging products such as prediction markets and 24/7 access to gambling platforms continue to push the boundaries of what we traditionally think of as gambling and how it is accessed.”
Q. Why is this suddenly a big topic?
“The gambling landscape has changed significantly in a relatively short period of time, driven by several forces coming together at once. Legal shifts, like Canada’s move to allow single-event sports betting in 2021 have opened the door to faster and more frequent wagering than the old parlay-only model. Smartphones have also turned everyone’s cell phone into a casino, with gambling available around the clock. Illegal offshore sites continue to multiply, giving players more places to chase bonuses without the built-in protections offered by legal and regulated platforms like PlayNow. Combined with increased advertising, these changes have made gambling far more visible, more accessible and harder to opt-out of if you are no longer having fun with your gambling than even a decade ago.”
Q. Where do prediction markets fit into this?
“Prediction markets push the paradox even further. They’re a good example of how blurry the lines have become. The mechanics of prediction markets look almost identical to gambling but because they are structured as financial instruments rather than betting products, and they don’t carry the same protections that current exist with licensed gambling operators, like mandatory deposit limits and self-exclusion tools.”
Q. So who is responsible for keeping up with all this?
“No single party can do this alone. Regulators need to move faster on illegal operators since the data consistently shows far more harm happens on these sites. Operators have a duty of care to act on the data they collect to build in player protections. And players need enough understanding of the mechanics of gambling, such as understanding odds and randomness to make informed choices. The honest answer is that everyone has a piece of it.
Q. What is BCLC doing to support this work?
“Player health and safety consistently remain a top priority for BCLC and are embedded across the corporation. Our Player Health Strategy is focused on better understanding players, finding new ways to support safer play through personalziation and building a culture where we normalize safer play as part of the player journey.
GameSense, our award-winning player health program, provides players with information tools and support to help them make informed decisions about their gambling. GameSense Advisors are available in casinos across B.C., as well as by phone and live chat. BCLC has also earned the World Lottery Association's highest level of certification for its player health programs.
We continue to invest in tools and technology that strengthen these supports. Starting in 2027, we will have a new capability to identify riskier gambling behaviours in our online players and will be developing approaches to encourage more adoption of safer gambling behaviors through interaction models that allow us to keep players informed of their gambling activity.
We also offer Game Break, our voluntary self-exclusion program, allows players to take a six-month to three-year break from both in-person and online gambling, while ID@Entry helps support that commitment at land-based casinos.”
Q. What is the one thing to take away from all of this?
“The honest answer is that by the time research catches up to a new product, the product has often already evolved into something else. The gap in response time between change and action is the reason the disruption paradox is worth talking about now. Things are changing a lot, they're changing fast, and we all need to move away from reactive, catch-up approaches and work together toward more proactive tools that can continuously flag new risks as they emerge – not after they have already shaped player behaviour.”
Stay tuned for part two of our series, where we’ll look at where the disruptive gap is most visible: sports betting, and how it is shaping and reshaping the fan experience. You can also take part in the Disruption Paradox conversation live at the upcoming New Horizons in Safer Gambling Conference.
