7 Comments

As a Saskie, I agree with your position. It is (really) distasteful that our gov't makes money from gambling &, too often, the casinos are filled with people who don't have the income to be there. However, the casinos provide good jobs with proper training for employees and are safe & well-run. Moreover, they provide the opportunity to see great shows as well as revenue for the province & for First Nations. It works well here & I recommend it to other provinces.

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Casinos should be provincially owned and operated, and federally regulated.

Also on line gambling should be banned. It is to easy for actors from outside Canada to operate.

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I agree; There should be no privately owned or managed casinos, they should be owned and operated by the province they are located in.

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founding

I suspect the online betting games are quite toxic too. I'm surprised it's legal anywhere, but admit I don't know much about it.

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Brick & mortar casinos may be facing long-term risk (as the final graf points out). That strikes me as a good reason for provinces to let the private sector shoulder the risk, rather than assume it themselves.

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A better question is whether governments should permit legalized gambling at all. I'm conflicted on this point. People should generally be allowed to do what they want, and I'm very wary of governments trying to make value judgements for the public. However, gambling is both stupid and evil. Statistics tell you the house always wins in the end, making gambling a foolish endeavor. However, I understand some people enjoy the thrill even if it's akin to setting your wallet on fire. The bigger problem is that most of the gambling clientele have some degree of addiction to gaming and/or can ill afford to lose money to gaming. They're doing it because they feel compelled, or are sufficiently desperate to try gaming to improve their financial situation. Working as a volunteer at bingo halls in the '90s for school band fundraisers, one was not left with the impression that the people playing were there for fun and recreation. Then there's the sick feeling when you realize we're fleecing them of their meagre earnings to subsidize largely affluent middle-class kids for their arts and sports activities. It just doesn't seem right, and I have to ask why we're getting involved in something like that.

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