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Nova Scotia Nears Decision on Online Gambling

Posted on August 26th, 2010

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After all the brouhaha of Canadian provinces plunging into the legalizing online gambling, Nova Scotia is also taking the plunge, furthering its plans to launch an online gaming website, which it claims it is doing to give protection to its residents who are engaging in online gaming and are at the mercy of offshore. These sites, according to the finance minister of the province, are not regulated and will be able to take full advantage over players if it so wishes to. Graham Steele said these statements about the province’s decision to pursue online gambling in an interview this week with CBC. Steele further claims that the gambling website to be controlled by the province will have information on help for gambling addicts, whereas most offshore sites do not have this option.

Steele says, “They don’t care if somebody’s got a problem. They don’t care that the money is leaving Nova Scotia. There are no ‘problem gambling’ resources,” The idea of the NDP government to follow other Canadian provinces in not just in allowing online gambling but also constructing and controlling the websites themselves is drawing fire from critics, who are having an issue with the province even just considering the idea. One of these groups against video lottery terminals, Game Over, is claiming that a gambling website, even if controlled by the government is just another outlet for gambling addicts to pour their money into. On Tuesday, a member of the group, Debbie Langille said that gambling online is a disgraceful resource of income and that the social costs that online gambling sites bring outweigh the benefits such as the revenue it brings.

One other opinion that may weaken the online gambling cause in Nova Scotia is the fact that, according to John McMullan, a criminologist who is studying the gambling concern in the entire country, even surveys conducted by the province itself has shown that the audience for online gambling in Nova Scotia is absent and not as strong as in the other Canadian provinces. McMullan, who also happens to be a professor at Halifax’s Saint Mary’s University adds that there is no reason why the Nova Scotia government should get into online gambling unless if the area has no natural market for the business, unless it would want to stimulate or grow a new market. Moreover, since these websites are dedicated to the province alone, the government would have to stimulate the market internally and get players from its own jurisdiction to play in the website, something it may have difficulty doing because no one really had that experience before.

Others, however, are not agreeing, and in fact claim that they are already giving online gaming a try. Steele claims that thousands of Nova Scotians are playing in online casinos controlled offshore and have been spending millions of dollars doing so. He adds that the question is not whether the province should involve itself in online gambling or not, because it already is – it’s just that the residents are doing it in an environment that is unregulated. He defends the plans by saying that the government would be acting more irresponsibly if it will just let these illegal and unregulated offshore gambling sites victimize the citizens of the province, especially as it is said that these offshore sites offering casino games are actually fronts of certain criminal organizations. Steele further adds by comparing bans on alcohol to a ban on online gambling, citing that both are not really effective at all.

As for the other provinces in Canada, British Columbia has already its online gambling site up and running despite initial delays and glitches since last month. Meanwhile, plans are underway for the provinces of Quebec and Ontario to launch their own sites. Another province that also has opposition regarding the issue is Newfoundland and Labrador, as its premier, Danny Williams, has been vocal in his opposition to online gambling, saying he would vote against online gambling in his province. In Nova Scotia, the decision whether online gambling should be approved or not will be finalized when the provincial government will release its overall plan on gaming in the coming months. In case the plan pushes through, the technology will be provided by Atlantic Lottery Corporation’s PlaySphere, which is operated by Nova Scotia along with other two provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.