The Online Gambling Scenario in Canada

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The 14th Canadian Gaming Summit & Exhibition was held at Stampede Park BMO Center in Calgary from April 26 to April 28. This was predominantly an occasion for the land gaming industry to get together to learn of the new products and discuss issues vital to the industry. However reports in the Calgary Herald indicated that sufficient time was devoted to discuss the provincial governments’ trend toward Internet gambling and the possible ramifications.

In the recent past some Canadian provincial governments have expressed an interest in regulating and taxing online gambling. One example is Manitoba. The Lotteries Minister Steve Ashton was quoted as saying that the province was actively considering offering its own government-run online gambling site, possibly in partnership with a reputed online gambling operator. He added that a final decision had not been made in this regard. Ashton was aware of the opposition to this idea from problem gambling advocates like the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba who claim that online gambling would lead to increased problem gambling. Therefore Ashton assured that if the provincial government went ahead with this proposal then it would have safeguards like age verification, transfer limits, anti-money laundering and secure payment assurances. Other provinces who are active in the online gambling area are British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime (Atlantic) provinces.

Paul Burns, vice-president of the Canadian Gaming Association, pointed out that Canadians are spending CAD 1 billion on online gaming, which is going to offshore operators. A recent Ipsos Reid poll showed that more and more Canadians are expressing an interest in online gambling. Burns described online gambling as "the elephant in the room that needs to be talked about, and fast."

Responsible gambling and problem gambling were key concerns in the Calgary Summit as well. On the positive side Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation’s responsible gambling tool SafetyCheck was one of the products displayed at the exhibition. The corporation’s Margaret McGee said, "Teenagers are three times more likely than adults to visit offshore gaming websites." She added that SafetyCheck can prevent this from happening.

On the negative side were those who wanted to prevent legalized online gambling from becoming a reality on the grounds that it would lead to increased problem gambling. Professor Robert Williams of the University of Lethbridge, who is also a coordinator with the Alberta Gaming Research Institute, said that there is a high correlation between online gambling and problem gambling. He said, "Problem gamblers gravitate to Internet gambling, because it’s 24/7 and there’s no one to tell them it’s time to go home." He however conceded that the economic pressures were too high and that online gambling would soon become a reality in Canada.

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