Provinces are jumping into online gaming, but we look at whether the numbers make sense. Online gambling, to a cash-hungry province, must look like a ripe piece of fruit just waiting to be plucked.
The logic is easy to see. Gambling on the internet is already happening, so why shouldn’t a province get a piece of the action rather than watch the money go elsewhere? What’s more, government oversight can keep players safe from shady offshore operators, and protect problem gamblers from themselves by promoting responsible gaming practices.
Ontario used those arguments before jumping into internet gambling in January. Quebec, B.C., and Manitoba are equally well versed in the rationale and Atlantic Canada’s gambling overseer is using it right now in a bid to expand the menu of online gaming options available on the East Coast.
Online gambling in Alberta, meanwhile, is on its way. Alberta’s gambling regulator is sifting through proposals from companies vying to run the province’s internet gaming business. It expects to make a recommendation to the provincial finance department in the next few months.
Paul Haavardsrud – CBC News – Mar 23, 2015
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