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Manitoba Explores Online Gambling Option

Posted on April 23rd, 2010

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The province of Manitoba may soon join Canada’s other provinces which have gone into the online gambling venture. Manitoba Lotteries Minister Steve Ashton said the government is still considering its decision and is still studying whether to link up with other provinces on a shared site or to put up its own Web site. “We’re looking at it, but no decision has been made. There will probably be a decision sometime this year,” Ashton said. “Clearly this is on the agenda. We’re going to look at it from all angles.”

A number of private gambling sites that are based overseas and over which the province has no control, can be accessed by Manitoba residents, thus taking much-needed revenue from the province, and exposing players in Manitoba to the risk of fraud and other forms of deceit.

Ashton said if the government would bring to fruition its plans of an online gambling site, it would compete with those unregulated sites and would produce revenue for the province. In addition, and most importantly, according to Ashton, Manitoba residents would be able to log on to a site that’s safe and secure because it is being regulated and overseen by the government. “The vast majority of people if they are involved in gaming would prefer a regulated site, I would think,” Ashton said.

Other provinces like British Columbia and Quebec have already government-run gaming sites. The B.C. Lotteries gambling site has been in operation for five years offering bingo and other games and in the coming months will start to offer casino games such as poker, roulette and blackjack.

The government of Quebec has authorized Loto-Quebec to operate a gambling site with poker and sports betting beginning September this year. After the proposal was announced, online gambling critics presented their arguments through an online campaign where they stated their claims that a state-run gambling site would increase the potential for gambling addiction.

The CEO of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, John Borody, said that an online gaming site in the province inviting more people to gamble would not be such a major concern because gambling addicts are already present considering that online gambling is so widespread and easily accessible. “The issue for us is how we intervene when somebody’s having problems,” he said. Borody further said, “Let’s not put our heads in the sand. It is out there. Let’s look at opportunities here. There’s an opportunity to intervene and that can only be done through a government site.”