Currently the province of Nova Scotia is considering offering online gambling. Ontario plans to launch online gambling by 2012, although the union that represents casino workers is against it (naturally).
“Internet gaming facilitates serious gambling addictions wherein participants can spend thousands of dollars without ever leaving their homes or coming into contact with another human being,” Lewenza said Wednesday.
“This is very worrisome and could prey on vulnerable populations who could easily fall victim to gambling addictions,” he said.
I completely agree with Mr Lewenza. I know he is trying to protect the livelihood of casino workers, which is another good reason for governments to stay out of online gambling; but he’s absolutely correct that such a proposal will lead to an increase in gambling addictions. People will be encouraged to spend more than they can afford: There goes the mortgage or rent money, grocery money, etc — down the drain — as governments make it easier for people to go broke faster. And for what reason? So that these greedy governments can make more money to spend foolishly. Remember: All gambling is rigged so that the house usually wins.
Besides the almost guaranteed increase in gambling addictions and the harm to the livelihood of casino workers, there are other issues to consider with online gambling:
- Identity theft
Do you really believe that a government-run online gambling site is more secure than other such sites? Read this: Security breach at the BC Lottery Corp’s online gambling site. Several online gamblers had their identity compromised. The BC government’s online gambling site PlayNow.com is still not operational because of this breach. - Governments tracking your gambling spending habits
Do you really want the government knowing how much you’re spending on gambling? - Loss of revenue for retailers of lottery tickets
Governments offering gambling online is going to hurt lottery ticket sales at retailers. Why would they do this? Governments don’t care about lottery ticket retailers, and governments are greedy.
Now, some provinces allow lottery tickets to be purchased online, and we believe this can be a good thing. When you purchase your lottery tickets online, lottery win payouts are expedited, since there’s no dispute about where or when you bought the ticket — questions that, if you can’t answer or answer incorrectly, can delay you getting your winnings.
What we would like to see is lottery retailers protected in those cases too. If someone purchases a ticket online and they win, the nearest retailer to the winner should be given credit and compensation. If there are multiple retailers close to the winner (within a certain radius), then the compensation can be divided among them.
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