ALBERTA TO HALT IMAGE ADVERTISING FOR LOTTERY
By Adnews Staff
The Alberta government has announced it will no longer use image advertising on radio and TV for lotteries, saying it doesn't want to promote gambling overtly. Lottery Minister Steve West says the government also feels the games sell themselves. The province's lotteries are operated by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission. In the past TV was used for image advertising, with banners along the bottom of the screen promoting different games. The commission hasn't decided yet whether or not it will use TV advertising in the future to promote specific games, spokesperson Darlene Dickinson told Adnews this week. Advertising for the lottery in Alberta is created by Parallel Strategies of Calgary, with media buying done in-house. Last October Alberta pulled out of the Western Lottery Corp., which manages Lotto 6-49 and other games across the Prairie provinces. Manitoba Finance Minister Eric Stefanson says his government is considering replacing TV fantasy ads for lotteries with "factual" ones that just the jackpot of the week.