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Canadian Provinces Asked to Stop Gambling Operations by Anti Gambling Groups

Posted on November 14th, 2010

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With online gambling instituted in a couple of provinces in Canada, a lot of research organizations now have sufficient data to conduct studies on its effects. As of the moment though, only British Columbia has a gambling site running, while Quebec and Ontario are gearing up to get in on the action. So far, while the revenue has been good, the criticisms of some sectors and studies have not waned. A report by an organization representing marriage and family just advised provincial governments to stop operating online gambling in their jurisdictions. The group claims that this approach to revenue generation is damaging their citizens, leading them to addiction and other social and economic problems.

The Institute of Marriage and Family Canada are calling on the three provincial governments to stop operating websites that make gambling available to its residents, as well as letting any form of gambling be practiced in their areas. According to the group’s lead researcher, Derek Miedema, more than $32 per head is spent every year in the country to wean addicts from their gambling habits. He explained that there is a conflict of interest in the scenario by saying, “You can’t have whoever is running (gambling) with a profit motive, then paying for responsible gambling. Responsible gambling drops revenues, so it cannot co-exist under the same tent.” Miedema and his group do not really condemn gambling altogether. He does suggest that since the government funds both anti-gambling addiction advocacies and gambling sites, it should choose where it would side. He suggested that governments should privatize gambling, implement a tax scheme for the winners and use the revenue to fund efforts for responsible gambling. He added, “If governments are bearing the responsibility of (helping problem gamblers), they have to get out from being the provider of the service.”

A report by Statistics Canada claimed that gambling has produced revenue amounting to more than $13 billion in just one year—proving once and for all that the the industry is indeed a solid cash cow for the provinces. However, the same report also mentioned problems that needed to be addressed. If these concerns are not addressed properly the soonest, Miedema predicted that the problems caused by chronic gambling, particularly the lack of money for domestic use will continue to increase. He explained that problem gamblers are ready to forego the necessities like money for food, shelter and clothing so that they could have money to feed their addictions, to the decrement of their families. Moreover, he stated that the country’s poor are more susceptible to the dangers of problem gambling. Families with incomes of under $20,000 tend to spend more than twice as much on gambling as people who earn high (over $80,000) as a percentage of income. He concluded that it comes out that government-run gambling is becoming more of a tax on the poor. He explained that there has been interviews about mothers who opt to send more on online slots rather than using the money to buy food for their children. He continued, “You can’t imagine what impact that has on kids — to see Mom spending money on slots when they don’t have food to eat. Or you have one spouse working long hours to bring money in to support the family, and the other spouse spending long hours and money gambling, and it creates conflict. It can lead to family breakdown and crisis.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Gina Bulcke, director of clinical services for family and mental health and addictions at Windsor Regional Hospital claims that her hospital has had more gamblers for treatment in a year. She claims that a reason why problem gamblers are difficult to treat is because their addiction is linked to other mental concerns like anxiety and depression. She explained, “That’s also why we work with the whole family to deal with the impact on them and attempt to rebuild their family life.”

Defenders of the Online Casin Industry thouh have stated and will always continue to support the fact that gambling addiction is a problem of the individual. Just because some people are susceptible to addiction, does not mean the pastime should be banned entirely. While those in favor of the operation of online gambling in their areas have accepted these figures presented by the other camp, they maintain that outright prevention of gambling is not the correct approach. Many have quoted Miedema’s idea as the logical solution—that the government and private entities should each focus sepparately on either online gambling or gambling addiction services in order to avoid a conflict of interest.