Gamblor’s World

CNS Release 05/03/07 1:50 PM >>>
Review Panel Appointed
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A panel of experts has been appointed to conduct an independent review of retail ticket lotteries, the Minister of Environment and Labour said today, May 3.

“Appointing this review panel fulfils the province’s commitment, announced in March, to respond to the finding that retailers are winning at 10 times the rate of the general population,” said Mark Parent.

Results of an internal review announced by Atlantic Lottery Corporation in March showed that retailers had won ticket lottery prizes more often than they should have, statistically.

The panel will analyze the ticket-lottery system and identify steps that can be taken to ensure that Nova Scotians have confidence in its integrity.

Depending on the findings of the panel, the minister may expand the review to include VLTs and linked bingos — games played using video feeds.

“To ensure a thorough review of retail ticket lotteries, I have appointed a high-calibre panel with William Hogg, a former deputy minister of finance, natural resources and government services, as chair,” said Mr. Parent. “The two other expert panel members are Ms. Dawn Russell, a former dean of law at Dalhousie University, and Mr. David Wojcik, a lawyer and former RCMP constable.”

The retail ticket lotteries review panel will interview and review documents from retailers, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation and the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation.

The panel will be supported by the alcohol and gaming division of the Department of Environment and Labour and by other experts.

The alcohol and gaming division regulates gaming in Nova Scotia. It ensures rules and regulations are followed within the industry. As regulator, it operates independently of other entities in the industry.

The Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation is the Crown corporation that manages the business of gaming on behalf of government, with all profits going to government. Its mandate is to balance revenue generation and social responsibility and to advise government on gambling policy. It oversees two operators who run the day-to-day business of gambling in Nova Scotia: Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which operates casinos in Halifax and Sydney, and Atlantic Lottery Corporation, which operates ticket and video lottery games across the province.

The review panel’s budget will be about $125,000. Its report is expected before the end of October.

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FOR BROADCAST USE:

A panel of experts has been appointed to conduct a review of

retail ticket lotteries.

Environment and Labour Minister Mark Parent says the panel

is the province’s response to an internal review done for the

Atlantic Lottery Corporation in March that showed retailers were

winning ticket lotteries more times than they should,

statistically.

The panel of experts includes William Hogg, a former

provincial deputy minister, Dawn Russell, a former dean of law at

Dalhousie University, and David Wojcik, a lawyer and

former RCMP constable.

They will interview retailers, the Atlantic Lottery

Corporation, the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation and other

experts.

Depending on the findings of the panel, the minister may

expand the review to include VLTs and linked bingos — games

played using video feeds.

-30-

Media Contact: Bruce Nunn
Environment and Labour
902-424-6427
E-mail: nunnbx@gov.ns. ca

Karen Brownlee, Leader-Post, Published: Saturday, May 05, 2007

SWIFT CURRENT — The elders crossed the 10 acres of dry, cracked earth where Saskatchewan’s final casino is to be built so they could offer tobacco to the spirits to ensure the project runs smoothly and its benefits are realized.

When they returned, one of the elders began reciting a prayer. As he spoke, raindrops dotted the earth as well as the 100 people gathered around him.

Those raindrops were significant to Chief Alice Pahtayken of the Nekaneet First Nation.

“The elders always tell us when there are raindrops that means the spirits are honouring us,” she told those gathered in a conference room of a nearby hotel following the elders’ ceremony and the groundbreaking for the Living Sky Casino.

Nekaneet is one of 11 First Nations in the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council that bought the land for the Living Sky Casino. Together with the City of Swift Current, the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority and the Government of Saskatchewan, they have gotten the project through most of the approval processes. It will be another 18 months until the casino opens, but the benefits and challenges are already being felt.

The idea for the casino came from business people in Swift Current looking to revitalize the city’s economy about seven years ago.

“At that time, our economy was very stagnant,” said Swift Current Mayor Sandy Larson. “We were hoping we could get something to draw people off the highway.”

While the idea of a casino had been tossed around before, Larson said it wasn’t until local hotel owner Bill Thacker called SIGA in the summer of 2000 that someone did more than talk about it.

Edmund Bellegarde remembers Thacker’s call. At the time, Bellegarde was the CEO of SIGA, but is now the tribal chairman of the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council. It wasn’t something SIGA had considered, so Bellegarde said he’d talk to others.

Two years later, the project found momentum. SIGA officials wanted to know what other ventures the city was interested in pursuing. That caught the attention of the Swift Current Allied Arts Council. For decades, they wanted a home so local, national and international artists performing in the city had a more appropriate venue.

“A stand-alone facility would have cost $12 (million) to $15 million,” said Larson. “A city our size could never afford a facility like that. It was a win-win situation for everyone.”

Selling a casino to the community was something Bellegarde and SIGA knew was vital to the process. The gaming agreement the provincial government has with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations requires the community and municipality to support the project before the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority will approve it.

“The community sometimes has a ‘not in my backyard’ attitude. It takes a lot of patience (and) a lot of perseverance to educate the public that we’re not in this just for profit-taking,” said Bellegarde, who was with SIGA until early 2006.

One way SIGA’s casinos give back is through their Community Development Corporations. One-quarter of casino net profits are provided to the CDCs to be dispersed to the hundreds of organizations working on health, justice, education, recreation, culture, and infrastructure initiatives.

Another portion of SIGA’s net profits go to the provincial government’s general revenue fund that pays for the province’s education, health, highways and other systems. In 2005-06, that was 37.5 per cent of SIGA’s $40.2-million net income.

Still Bellegarde knew not everyone was going to be in favour, but in 2003, he found enough were. A plebiscite held that year found 55 per cent of voters supported the casino. Bellegarde was in Swift Current on election night to monitor the results.

“Some of our supporters were a little disappointed that (support) wasn’t stronger,” he said.

“I reminded them that evening that at the start, 35 per cent of the public are opposed to gambling activity of any kind … Of the remaining 65 per cent, we got a very strong mandate.”

Bellegarde could tell the community was not only getting behind the casino, but also the aboriginal people involved in the project. While he says the southwest region has significant meaning for our province’s aboriginal people, their numbers are low in Swift Current. In 2001, Statistics Canada recorded 285 aboriginal people living in the city of 15,000.

For a week in October 2004, their numbers swelled when the FSIN held its fall assembly in Swift Current. That week, Bellegarde said businesses around the city posted signs welcoming the chiefs and residents greeted them on the street.

It was also that week Premier Lorne Calvert announced in Swift Current his government was approving the casino. Less than three months later, his government approved an amendment to the gaming agreement.

“We feel the market is at a saturation point,” said SLGA Minister Deb Higgins. “It would be pretty difficult if not impossible to approve anything else … In the foreseeable future, this is it — the last casino we can see being approved for Saskatchewan.”

To buy the land for the casino, the 11 First Nations of the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council each contributed an equal share of funds. Those First Nations are Carry the Kettle, Little Black Bear, Muscowpetung, Okanese, Pasqua, Peepeekisis, Piapot, Standing Buffalo, Star Blanket, Wood Mountain and Nekaneet. A parcel of land just off the Trans-Canada Highway was purchased making Living Sky the only casino in Saskatchewan next to Canada’s main highway.

“The market is 100 miles around the casino, but because we’re on the Trans-Canada Highway, there is access to one million cars that pass by the site (every year),” said Bellegarde. “We feel we’re going to attract people internationally from down south and from across Western Canada, but a lot of people from the East Coast make their trip across Canada on the Trans-Canada.”

The tribal council will finance the construction of the building while SIGA will manage the exterior and interior design and furnishings and then operate the facility. The casino will have 220 slot machines and 10 table games. In the multi-function theatre, there will be seating for 600.

Story boards will explain the 11 First Nations as well as the five linguistic groups in the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council. The building will also reflect southwest Saskatchewan, including natural materials found in the area.

“When our elders chose (the name) Living Sky, it fit the landscape,” said Bellegarde.

“This territory, the Cypress Hills Region, has a lot of history for us both from a spiritual and cultural context to a hunting and winter haven context. Cypress Hills is a sacred park.”

It was decided Nekaneet would ensure the casino’s land becomes an urban reserve. While Nekaneet is an hour and a half away from Swift Current near the Alberta border, it is the closest First Nation to the city.

Last year, Nekaneet signed a municipal services agreement with the City of Swift Current, one of the steps in creating an urban reserve. Another step is a ratification vote in July. If 50 per cent plus one of Nekaneet’s eligible voters agree to turn the land into an urban reserve, the matter goes to Indian Affairs for the federal minister to approve.

All other approvals are in place. Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming has approved the $35-million construction cost of building the 50,000-square-foot facility. Financing for the project is in place with Concentra Financial and the Bank of Montreal.

Construction is to begin in June. That is one of the project’s challenges. Swift Current is growing rapidly and construction labour for other projects, such as the newly built regional hospital, has at times been difficult to find.

“Graham Construction is the general contractor for the project,” said Bellegarde. “Trailers and workers will be moving down onto the site later this summer. We hope that their database of labour and their experience in Saskatchewan in projects as large as this will certainly pay off.”

Finding enough aboriginal workers will also be a challenge, but he feels SIGA can manage.

Not only will the tourists bring new money to the city, but so will the employees moving there. FSIN Vice-Chief Morley Watson points to Yorkton’s Painted Hand Casino’s 200 employees earning a combined $7 million to show what is possible for Swift Current.

“Those working people support the community by purchasing goods and services — homes, vehicles, furniture, electronics and the list goes on,” he said.

Finding enough places for the employees to live is another challenge. The housing market in Swift Current is tight with new subdivisions being completed. “We’re going to come up with some creative options that we’ll be unveiling as the project continues,” said Bellegarde.

Another challenge exists in the community. While some may be concerned about problem gambling with the introduction of the casino, one Swift Current man says it is already there.

John attends Gamblers Anonymous meetings in Swift Current. Last April he realized his spending on VLTs was soon going to cost him his house and possibly his relationship with his daughter.

“They’re in every restaurant and every bar in the city,” said John, who didn’t share his last name just as he doesn’t at his meetings. “They’re everywhere. You just have to get used to them being around. The casino isn’t going to change that.”

John is certain many more in Swift Current need help than the three others who attend meetings with him. Higgins agrees and says resources are there.

“About two per cent of the gaming population have a problem,” said Higgins. “Saskatchewan has about the second-highest per-capita spending on problem gambling (in Canada).”

John first called the province’s Problem Gambling Helpline. While he could have participated in a day treatment program in Regina, he chose instead to initiate the Gamblers Anonymous group in Swift Current.

While amendments to the gaming agreement for the Dakota Dunes Casino provide another $500,000 for problem gambling programs for First Nations, there aren’t any additional resources associated with the Living Sky Casino. In all, $4.5 million will be spent on problem gambling in the province once Dakota Dunes opens.

As the partners in the project wait for the opening of the Living Sky Casino still many months away, their excitement continues to build.

“The unique partnership with the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council, Nekaneet First Nation, SIGA and the government of Saskatchewan will create significant possibilities for our community to expand and grow,” said Larson.

But others say the benefits go beyond the city’s limits.

As Saskatchewan’s aboriginal population continues to grow — by 2045, 40 per cent of our province’s people will be First Nations — the FSIN’s Watson says all of Saskatchewan’s people need to continue to working together on projects like the casinos.

“We need to take every opportunity to generate an economy that is needed for tomorrow … This project is not just for First Nations, but for everyone,” said Watson.

“We want to build a better future and of course, hope, for our young people that Saskatchewan is a dynamic, progressive and willing partner for First Nations for a better tomorrow.”

Veronica Rhodes, Leader-Post, Published: Saturday, May 05, 2007

One unexpected moment cemented Roland Crowe’s resolve that First Nations must open casinos in Saskatchewan.

During the time of the on-and-off discussions that preceded the development, the then-chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) was working in his Regina office early one morning when he happened to look out the window. A First Nations family was walking through the back alley and stopped to dig through some garbage cans.

“I thought they may have thrown something away. They didn’t only go there, they went to the next one,” recalled Crowe, who was FSIN chief from 1986 to 1994.

He was taken aback when he realized the family had no money, no income. They were looking in the garbage cans for anything that could help them.

“If there was one single moment that I was determined above everything else, the problems that we faced and the difficulty getting gaming, that I was going to do it, we were going to do it,” said Crowe.

“It is kind of heartwrenching. I think if there was a single deciding moment, that was the time for me.”

Jobs were the primary reason former White Bear First Nation Chief Bernie Shepherd wanted to open a casino on his reserve in southeast Saskatchewan.

“One of the problems we identified out there, the root of most of the problems out there, was because people weren’t employed,” Shepherd said of the First Nation, located beside Moose Mountain Provincial Park near Carlyle.

“There was always high unemployment out there. We had seasonal jobs, we had some long-term jobs but that was it.”

Talk of First Nations gaming in Saskatchewan started in the late 1980s when such gambling enterprises were starting to rise in the United States.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court found that federally recognized Native American tribes could operate gaming facilities free of state regulation. A year later, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was enacted, outlining how tribes were permitted to operate casinos in the U.S.

Yale Belanger, author of Gambling with the Future: The Evolution of Aboriginal Gaming in Canada, said that First Nations people never looked at gaming as the be-all, end-all but rather as a starting point.

“In my experience speaking with leaders of all these different communities, casino operators, the casinos right now are seen as the first step in a larger economic development plan,” said Belanger, who is an assistant professor of Native American studies at the University of Lethbridge.

“It’s a timing issue, it was the momentum down in the United States and it was the idea of gravitating towards an industry that could generate a pretty substantial base cash-wise that could be utilized for other economic endeavours.”

There were also gains to be made on the political level, where First Nations were too often ignored. Belanger argued the only time they are listened to is in two instances: If there is an uprising, such as the Oka crisis, or if First Nations leaders have money from successful economic development occurring in their communities.

“That’s when Canadian leaders listen, whether from a political or provincial perspective. When we’re talking about seeking advanced political clout within the province, I think gaming was seen as a way to provide that economic foundation, which is political leverage in so many ways,” Belanger explained.

Shepherd had been travelling to Albuquerque, N.M. since 1987 and during each trip, found more and more Native American casinos popping up in many states. After doing some research, Shepherd raised the possibility to his band council and suggested they attend a gaming conference and visit a casino in Minnesota in the summer of 1992.

Not everyone was onside with the possibility of opening a casino but Shepherd hoped to allay their concerns during the trip.

“Without making any sort of decision on it, I said, ‘Let’s go down to this gaming conference, let’s see the casino and by all means, what I want everyone to do while we’re there is talk to the people both in the community and at the casino,’ ” said Shepherd.

The trip had a big impact on the council, which returned ready to make the casino possibility a reality.

Meanwhile, the FSIN was also seeing the economic possibilities casinos hold. Crowe said trips were made to Las Vegas and Reno to tour operations and get an understanding of the numbers.

But there were many obstacles to making First Nations gaming a reality in the province. Many people within the FSIN’s own communities had concerns about the social ills that could develop if casinos were opened.

There was also the mighty task of reaching a gaming agreement with the provincial government.

“We went in with our eyes open and we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task by any sense of the imagination. We knew it would be a struggle,” said Crowe.

He admitted negotiations were long because the government resisted recognizing First Nations jurisdiction to control gaming activities. The FSIN worked with three or four different provincial gaming ministers before a deal was signed.

While negotiations between the FSIN and the province dragged on, White Bear made the move to open its own casino. Shepherd admitted the two processes were occurring simultaneously but he believed White Bear had a stronger argument for pushing ahead with its own development.

“We believe that we had a stronger process because White Bear was actually at the signing of treaty, therefore it was a government-to-government relationship. Whereas the FSIN had never signed treaty and they didn’t have as strong of a case as we did,” Shepherd explained.

The band’s plan to open a casino was fully disclosed to the public and garnered plenty of media attention. Just days before the opening, representatives of White Bear were in negotiations with the province, trying to reach a compromise that would have allowed the casino to proceed while jurisdictional issues were dealt with in court.

With backing from American partners, the band opened the Bear Claw Casino inside White Bear’s golf clubhouse on Feb. 26, 1993. Talks between the province and White Bear broke down a few days later.

On March 22, just three weeks after the casino’s opening, the RCMP used armed tactical teams and a helicopter to conduct a pre-dawn raid of the fledgling operation. Seized were 100 slot machines, a half-dozen card tables, financial records and between $70,000 and $125,000 cash.

The problem was White Bear had not obtained a licence from the province for the casino and, according to the Criminal Code, such gambling establishments are under provincial authority.

But Shepherd argued the casino was located on reserve land, which is federal Crown land and not within provincial jurisdiction.

“One of the things we’ve always believed is that we’re a sovereign nation on White Bear and we dealt only with the federal government, which is basically what we did up until a week before we opened up,” he explained.

Shepherd, band councillor Brian Standingready, two of their American partners and two band-run corporations faced charges stemming from the operation of an illegal gaming house. After a year-long trial, the presiding judge ruled the province failed to prove the casino operators acted with criminal intent.

But the judge avoided ruling on the constitutional and jurisdictional questions surrounding the Bear Claw Casino’s existence; that would have set a precedent on whether or not First Nations have the right to regulate gambling on reserves.

Both the province and White Bear filed separate appeals asking senior courts to determine who has the right to regulate gambling on reserves. But the actions were dropped in order for the FSIN and the government to sign an agreement.

Still, Shepherd said he regrets not having that decision on whether or not First Nations have the gaming right. He was prepared to fight it all the way to the Supreme Court, where a precedent-setting decision could have led to victories in other areas.

“Those kinds of issues have quite an impact in terms of us having sovereignty over basically everything in our lives,” he said.

The opening of the White Bear casino, despite its quick closure, was the catalyst needed for the FSIN and provincial government to reach a gaming agreement. Just a few months prior to the raid, talks had broken down between the two sides and the province had planned to meet with individual bands about casinos.

Belanger argued that dialogue between the province and FSIN was not very fast and effective because neither was comfortable with the other’s agenda. But within days of the raid, provincial ministers agreed to resume discussions with the FSIN.

“(White Bear’s) exercise of self-government, even if the Canadian government doesn’t agree with that position, was something that at the time had not been dealt with. It wasn’t fully articulated. So I think the fear was that all First Nations in the province could go and do this …” said Belanger.

“I think the (Roy) Romanow government took a step back, spoke about these issues then made a very conscious decision to not only get all First Nations involved but expedite the process so they could kind of contain the growth of this industry.”

Eldon Lautermilch, who took over the gaming portfolio shortly after the White Bear raid, said that at the time, those in the NDP government weren’t “philosophically strong proponents” of gaming. The draw of VLTs in Manitoba and Alberta forced the government to take its first steps into gaming with the electronic gambling machines, which preceded casinos in Saskatchewan.

“There was no one around the cabinet table who strongly supported gaming in the province. It was just something we felt we had to do for the economy and we needed to operate it under the Criminal Code of Canada guidelines, so that’s what we did,” said Lautermilch.

“We did the VLT program then with the casinos, it was another step in the industry. I suppose it was a natural progression. Was it moved along by White Bear? Probably but I don’t think that was the only underlying reason … To me it looked like the best opportunity we could get to have the First Nations, have the aboriginal community involved in part of our economy where it wouldn’t be intruding on activity that was already taking place.”

In February 1995, a deal was reached that gave the FSIN authority to license and regulate four First Nations-run casinos in North Battleford, Prince Albert, Yorkton and White Bear, as well as play a role in a new Regina casino. The Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) was created to develop, conduct, manage and operate the First Nations-run casinos.

North Battleford’s Gold Eagle Casino was the first to open on March 1, 1996, followed by Prince Albert’s Northern Lights Casino in March. The Bear Claw Casino on White Bear officially opened in November and Yorkton’s Painted Hand Casino followed in December.

“When you look at (the casinos) geographically, they are spread out kind of in the four corners of the southern part of the province,” said Belanger.

“What that does is it shows they’re trying to set up a sectoral economic development strategy so that they can not only maximize their gains but at the same time employ people in different parts of Saskatchewan.”

The gains have been plentiful; according to SIGA’s 2005-06 annual report, the four casinos employ approximately 1,150 employees, 73 per cent of whom are First Nations. Net income for the four establishments was just over $40 million.

Profits are distributed to three areas: 37.5 per cent goes to the First Nations Trust, which is distributed to Saskatchewan First Nations; 37.5 per cent goes to the provincial government; and 25 per cent goes to Community Development Corporations, which are set up in the four casino locations and distribute money to charitable and not-for-profit community organizations.

SIGA suffered a setback in 2000, when its former CEO Edward (Dutch) Lerat was fired a week after the provincial government suspended his licence to work in the gaming industry. A provincial auditor’s report flagged $360,000 in unauthorized debit and credit card advances.
The auditor’s report was critical of not only SIGA but also the provincial government and led to a rewriting of the gaming agreement between the two parties that strengthened accountability practices. A two-year RCMP investigation concluded in 2003 that public money may have been misspent but there was no evidence to support criminal charges.

“Since (the Lerat affair), things have operated fairly effortlessly and things have gone very well and we see more jobs and we see more money,” said Belanger.

Two more First Nations-run casinos will be opening their doors soon, with the Dakota Dunes Casino on the Whitecap Dakota First Nation south of Saskatoon set to open in September and Swift Current’s Living Sky Casino expected to open in late 2008.

Lautermilch believes the government instituted the right policy, now that he sees the number of aboriginal people employed currently in the gaming industry.

“When I look at other jurisdictions, I am for sure convinced we did the right thing,” he said.

Crowe didn’t think it would get to this point, that First Nations casinos would be as successful as they are.

“If someone had told me in those years that … I’d be watching the sod turn in Swift Current for a casino, as much as my optimism was there, I don’t know if I would have believed it,” said Crowe. “It’s like dreaming and dreaming in Technicolour sometimes. But we have a right to dream, too.”
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2007

for more information on any of these articles go to www.responsiblegambling.org/newscan
N.S. launches probe of lottery wins. Gov’t sets $125,000 aside for ’serious review’.

Author:
Source: Vancouver Province
Published Date: May 04, 2007

Description:
Nova Scotia taxpayers will spend about $125,000 to learn why lotto retailers are so improbably lucky. Mark Parent, minister responsible for gambling, appointed a three-member panel yesterday to conduct an independent review of ticket lotteries. It comes after Atlantic Lotto announced in March that lotto retailers are winning big prizes 10 times more often than probability predicts. Similar complaints have surfaced nationally. Parent said Nova Scotia’s review might be expanded to look at video lottery terminals and bingo.

2. Uneven reels keep VLT gamblers hooked on machines: therapist

Author: Young, Robyn
Source: Halifax Daily News
Published Date: May 04, 2007

Description:
The traditional gambler usually has misconceptions around their skill level, says Roger Horbay, a problem-gambling therapist in Ontario for 10 years. But electronic-gaming-machine addicts “told me they know they can’t win, but they think they can win,” he said. This piqued Horbay’s interest in the mechanisms behind the VLT, and he is now a spokesman for Game Over VLTs, a Nova Scotia organization lobbying for the elimination of VLTs in the province. Horbay’s biggest problem with VLTs is that players aren’t aware of the unbalanced reels, and that gives them false hope.

3. Report shows casinos not doing job, gambling addict says

Author:
Source: CBC News
Published Date: May 03, 2007

Description:
A Sydney man who says his compulsive gambling cost him $500,000 and his marriage hopes a new report forces Nova Scotia’s two casinos to do a better job of dealing with problem gamblers. Paul Burrell, who says he’s planning a lawsuit, filed a complaint against the Sydney casino last year, claiming staff stood by and watched as he gambled away his life savings. He claimed casino workers did not fulfill their legal obligation to identify and bar people who appear to have a gambling problem.

4. Little is known about problem gambling

Author: McLeod, Paul
Source: Halifax Daily News
Published Date: May 03, 2007

Description:
There are many people who want to wipe out problem gambling. The catch is, no one knows how to stop it. That’s why the Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation (NSGF) hosted a roundtable discussion on problem gambling this week. The roundtable explored new research in the hopes of finding innovative ways to confront the issue of gambling. “The problem is that the field is in its infancy,” said Rob Simpson, CEO of the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre and a speaker at the event. “If you look at problem gambling’s closest cousins, drinking and smoking, we know much more about those two. We have 50 years of alcohol studies to look at.”

5. Province will meet with city, casinos

Author: Larocque, Corey
Source: Niagara Falls Review
Published Date: May 03, 2007

Description:
Ontario’s infrastructure minister David Caplan would take part in a meeting with Mayor Ted Salci, MPP Kim Craitor and the head of the company that runs Niagara’s casinos, Caplan’s spokeswoman Amy Tang said. As Ontario’s Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal, Caplan is responsible for Ontario Lottery and Gaming, the Crown corporation that owns provincial casinos. City council passed a resolution asking to set up a meeting between Salci, Craitor, Caplan and Art Frank, the president of Niagara Casinos. Councillors have questioned how good a corporate citizen the casinos have been in the past year since Frank took over their management.

6. Ruling: Skill counts, but poker is game of chance

Author:
Source: Associated Press
Published Date: May 02, 2007

Description:
Poker is mostly a game of chance - not skill - making it illegal to bet items of value when playing the card game in North Carolina, the N.C. Court of Appeals said yesterday. In a unanimous ruling, the three-judge panel agreed that a skilled player can tip the odds in his favor but said that the player “is always subject to defeat at the turn of a card.” State law makes it a misdemeanor for any person or organization to operate a game of chance in which players wager money, property or other items of value. But in 2004, Howard Fierman tried to open a poker club in Durham County and later sued when the Durham County district attorney, Jim Hardin, said that it would be illegal.

7. B.C. casino workers familiar with problem gamblers, says Lottery Corp. survey

Author: Meissner, Dirk
Source: CBC News
Published Date: May 02, 2007

Description:
B.C. casino workers say they regularly see problem gambling up close, including people who wear diapers into casinos so they don’t have to leave the machines to use the washroom. Many of the employees who responded to a survey by the B.C. Lottery Corp three years ago admitted to being uncomfortable with what they saw. The survey, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, noted the casino employees found the top three key indicators of people with a gambling problem are that they make repeated visits to automated banking machines, have agitated reactions after losses and attempt to borrow cash to keep gambling.

8. B.C.’s problem gamblers get little help at casinos, documents suggest

Author:
Source: CBC News
Published Date: May 02, 2007

Description:
Distressed gamblers usually get little help when they appeal to staff at B.C. casinos — often no more than a brochure and phone number to call for further assistance, according to B.C. Lottery Corp. documents obtained by CBC News. Yet 85 per cent of casino employees surveyed in 2004 said they believe the gamblers themselves are responsible for seeking help for their problems, according to one of the BCLC’s internal documents. “It would take an extreme case of distress before something is really done. It’s not a proactive approach, it’s a reactive approach,” said Sue Reid, a Surrey nurse who obtained the survey through a Freedom to Information request.

9. Ex-gambler educates teens

Author: Morency, Kristin
Source: Suburban, The
Published Date: May 02, 2007

Description:
In 2003 Tafari Belizaire’s gambling addiction was so out of control that he tried to kill himself by jumping off the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Belizaire, who was left paraplegic after his jump, along with gambling critic and host of CJAD’s Last Call With Sol, Sol Boxenbaum, spoke to about 25 students and their parents at Lakeside Academy. During his year-long rehabilitation, Belizaire had to come to terms with living a life confined to a wheelchair. He decided he would devote his time to educating the public on compulsive gambling.

10. Online gambling legalized in Papua New Guinea

Author:
Source: Online Gambling Paper
Published Date: May 01, 2007

Description:
The small Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea passed a bill that makes casinos and Internet gambling legal. The Gaming Control Bill 2007 was the brainchild of the Prime Minister Michael Somare and met a little opposition, although some have claimed that the bill is serving Korean business interests. This law also creates a National Gaming Control Board which will oversee all gambling activities and work to curb gambling addiction.

11. Lack of sleep impacts gambling decisions

Author:
Source: Earth Times
Published Date: May 01, 2007

Description:
A lack of sleep can hurt a person’s decision-making at a gambling table by elevating expectation of gains and making light of losses. The number of high-risk decisions did not increase with sleep deprivation, but the expectation of being rewarded for making the high-risk gamble was elevated, according to the study conducted by Vinod Venkatraman and colleagues at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

12. Today’s youth gamble on the future: Easy access, need for money, push teens to VLTs, poker, lotteries

Author: Henry, Bishop Fred
Source: Western Catholic Reporter
Published Date: May 01, 2007

Description:
Today’s young people are growing up in Canada with gambling options not only widely available, but eagerly and openly advertised and promoted. The long-term consequences of this cultural shift are still unknown. But for many adolescents, gambling is now seen as the new rite of passage. A study conducted by the Responsible Gambling Council, an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of problem gambling, reveals that more than one-third of Ontario teens who participated in the first-ever study to examine the gambling habits of students aged 15 to 17 are already gambling, and their ranks will likely double by the time they’re 20.

13. Axe for problem gambler service

Author: Akoorie, Natalie
Source: Waikato Times
Published Date: May 01, 2007

Description:
Hundreds fewer Waikato problem gamblers than expected have been treated under a taxpayer-funded scheme, resulting in the loss of at least one contract. Legislation banning smoking in casinos and bars is being credited as part of the reason for the reduction, but New Zealand’s Health Ministry and Waikato District Health Board are at odds over the strength of the services offered, and who is to blame. The ministry says it has cancelled a contract with the board’s mental health services unit because the provider did not meet its targets; the board says it relinquished the service because it was a dog.

14. New York gambling treatment court stresses help

Author: Belson, Ken
Source: New York Times
Published Date: May 01, 2007

Description:
The docket in front of Justice Mark G. Farrell one recent Tuesday afternoon looked like a routine roster of small-time crime: petty larceny, attempted burglary, check forgery. But the offenders shared a single motivation: money to gamble. Such is the criminal parade in the country’s first and only gambling treatment court in Amherst, NY. Following the model of about 2,000 “therapy courts” devoted to drugs and spousal abuse that have opened nationwide in the last two decades, the setup here allows defendants to avoid jail time if they follow a court-supervised program that includes counseling sessions, credit checks and twice-monthly meetings with Justice Farrell. Mirroring the rise in gambling nationally and the opening of two new casinos near this suburb of Buffalo, the court’s caseload has grown steadily since it opened in 2001.

15. 888 weathering US online gaming ban

Author: Bland, Ben
Source: Eog.com
Published Date: Apr 30, 2007

Description:
Online gaming company 888 has seen its profits increase in the year that the United States implemented a ban on internet gambling. This is despite the fact that the majority of 888’s business came from the US before the ban was brought in last October. The company, which offers online poker, blackjack and other casino games, announced today that profit before tax for 2006 rose by 34% year-on-year to $90.5m (£45.4m).

16. Yahoo! breaks into the online poker industry

Author: Miriam H.
Source: Online Casino News
Published Date: Apr 30, 2007

Description:
World renowned search engine Yahoo! has announced its venture into the online gaming world, with the announcement of the launch of Yahoo Poker, a real money online poker room, in a partnership with St. Minver Ltd., the Gibraltar-based online solutions provider for European gaming networks. The real money site will run on the International Poker Network (IPN), a poker room combining some of the biggest online and offline brands with the webs largest sportsbooks, and will focus on the growing European poker market.

17. US bill aims to repeal web gambling ban

Author: Kaplan, Peter
Source: Sunday Times
Published Date: Apr 30, 2007

Description:
Legislation that would lift an online gambling ban imposed by Congress last year was introduced by the chairman of US House Financial Services Committee. Calling the internet gambling prohibition “imprudently adopted,” Barney Frank (D-Mass.) outlined a Bill to make it legal again for banks and credit card companies to make payments to online gambling sites. “The fundamental issue here is a matter of individual freedom,” Mr Frank told a news conference, adding his committee would hold a hearing on the matter in June.

18. Gambling on the social cost of pokies

Author: Parnell, Sean
Source: Australian, The
Published Date: Apr 28, 2007

Description:
In its annual report, the Queensland Gaming Commission declared a “significant focus” of its work during the past financial year was on the social and community issues associated with poker machines, which deliver the state Government half a billion dollars each year. The Government refused to say whether its gambling regulator found any areas of concern, so The Weekend Australian used freedom of information laws to obtain the commission’s secret internal research. Some of the research - prepared by Treasury officials - justifies the Government’s decision to send pokies into communities to suck more from taxpayers. But the research found “there is some evidence to suggest a weak relationship between poker machine density and problem gambling rate”.

19. Odds are gamblers would win lawsuits, experts say

Author: Goddard, John
Source: Toronto Star
Published Date: Apr 27, 2007

Description:
If a known gambling addict sued a casino for not taking steps to control the behaviour, the gambler would likely win, expert panelists warned the gambling industry yesterday. Canadian courts have not yet ruled on such a case, panelists told the 11th annual Canadian Gaming Summit. A few lawsuits have been settled out of court, and a Quebec class action suit appears destined to go to trial this year. But legal research suggests that casinos, lottery corporations and other gambling operators likely have the same legal duty as bar owners to protect clients from self-destructiveness, the conference was told.

20. Bill would undo Net gambling ban

Author: Gordon, Marcy
Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram
Published Date: Apr 26, 2007

Description:
The ban on Internet gambling enacted last fall would be overturned under legislation proposed Thursday [Apr. 26] by a senior House Democrat, but the bill faces long odds in Congress. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the law preventing the use of credit cards to bet online “is an inappropriate interference on the personal freedom of Americans, and this interference should be undone.” More bluntly, he has called the ban “one of the stupidest things I ever saw.”

21. Chicago writer explores gambling

Author: Danahey, Mike
Source: Elgin Courier News
Published Date: Apr 26, 2007

Description:
It’s not like gambling is genetically imprinted. But writer Donald G. Evans does remember the Christmas when he was 7. Family members gathered on the floor of the Logan Square tenement to play a new game set up on top of the runner on the scruffy living room carpet. The toy was a model horse track that vibrated little ponies from starting gate to finishing line. Such life experiences serve Evans’ imagination well, providing background for his first novel, Good Money After Bad (Atomic Quill Press). Evans’ story is set in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood in 1995, the summer with the deadly heat wave. It was a time when gentrification was taking root in the formerly working-class neighborhood, but before the Internet and cell phone changed gambling, and a time when Evans actually lived in the area, working for papers in Lombard and Villa Park and stringing as a sportswriter for the Chicago Sun-Times. Evans research for the story involved spending time as a human guinea pig for a drug test at Abbott Laboratories in North Chicago, and attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings.

22. Moscoe proposing a casino for Toronto

Author:
Source: CTV News
Published Date: Apr 26, 2007

Description:
On the same day it was learned that Canadians lost $14.5 billion gambling last year, Toronto announced it was in preliminary talks to bring a casino to the city. “I’m willing to sit down with the provincial government and work out a plan for a casino for Toronto,” city licensing chair Howard Moscoe said, adding that any arrangement would have to give the city its “fair share of the revenue.” But opening a casino in Canada’s largest city is not a simple matter. City hall would first have to get approval for the facility from the provincial government. Then the city would need to have the plan approved by residents through a referendum.

23. Canadians gambled $14.5B last year that they didn’t win back: Study

Author:
Source: 680 News
Published Date: Apr 26, 2007

Description:
Canadians lost $14.5 billion to the country’s gambling industry in the last fiscal year, a new study has found. The economic report commissioned by the Canadian Gaming Association found the industry made more than $15 billion in revenue last year, including $700 million on non-gambling activities such as food and drinks. The remaining $14.5 billion constitutes the amount Canadians spent on gambling activities - such as playing slot machines at casinos, buying lottery tickets and placing race track bets - minus the prize payouts.

24. Millions seized in Phoenix-area gambling raid

Author:
Source: LasVegasNOW.com
Published Date: Apr 26, 2007

Description:
Millions of dollars in cash, cars and property were seized and 31 people arrested in raids that authorities said broke up four illegal gambling rings operating in three states. Undercover deputies had infiltrated the rings operating in Phoenix, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. Bettors placed wagers over the Web, while bookies, collectors and loan sharks operated out of Phoenix-area bars and restaurants. Those taken into custody face charges that include the promotion of gambling, money laundering, conspiracy and extortion.

25. Senate bill looks to lose limits on gambling losses

Author: Wiese, Kelly
Source: Associated Press
Published Date: Apr 26, 2007

Description:
The head of the Missouri Gaming Commission said this might be the year the state gets rid of gambling loss limits. After prolonged debate, the Senate gave initial approval by a narrow margin Tuesday [April 24] to legislation to repeal loss limits, with supporters citing new casino competition from Kansas. The gambling industry and the Gaming Commission have for years argued that the loss limits put Missouri casinos at a competitive disadvantage. State law currently limits patrons to buying $500 worth of chips or tokens, or losing that much in slot machines, in a two-hour period. Missouri is the only state with such limits.

26. Minister explores possibility of developing policy on gambling

Author:
Source: Malta Independent Online
Published Date: Apr 25, 2007

Description:
Malta’s Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina said yesterday that, following the development of policies on alcohol and drugs, the next step could be that of developing a policy on gambling. She was speaking at the opening of a two-day training seminar for professionals who offer services related to gambling addiction. The seminar, entitled Counselling problem gamblers, is intended to better equip professionals with the skills required to enable them to deal with clients and the families of people with a gambling problem.

27. Legalized casino gambling in Atlanta?

Author: Jones, Walter C.
Source: Newnan Times-Herald
Published Date: Apr 25, 2007

Description:
Casino gambling in Georgia could be the best way to preserve Atlanta’s position as a top convention city, according to a study commissioned for a group of civic leaders. The results of the study haven’t been released, and the group commissioning it hasn’t been made public either, but the author of the study, R. Mark Woodworth of PKF Consulting of Atlanta, says his phone has been ringing off the hook since it was leaked in February. While gambling didn’t come up in the session of the General Assembly that concluded last week, it has been discussed in civic meetings in recent weeks around Atlanta.

28. National policy on gambling to be developed

Author: Galea, Chris
Source: Di-ve.com
Published Date: Apr 24, 2007

Description:
Following the development of an alcohol policy and a drug policy, the next step could be that of developing a policy on gambling, Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity Dolores Cristina has announced. The Minister was speaking during the opening of a seminar entitled ‘Counselling Problem Gamblers’, which aims to further equip social workers, psychologists, family therapists, youth workers, nurses, counsellors and community workers to improve their skills when dealing with clients and families of persons with a gambling problem. Minister Cristina said that a Maltese policy on gambling would provide further solid ground on which Agenzija Sedqa can continue to develop, widening its services related to gambling problems.

29. Problem gambling on the increase

Author:
Source: Scoop Independent News
Published Date: Apr 24, 2007

Description:
The number of New Zealanders seeking help from the Problem Gambling Foundation is almost double that of 12 months ago. Problem Gambling Foundation CEO, John Stansfield, says that 150 new people used the service in March this year compared with 78 in March 2006. Mr Stansfield says that over 80% of problem gamblers do not seek assistance and attributes part of the increase to more innovative means of informing people about the free services they can access.

30. Florida casinos offer self-exclusion ban

Author:
Source: Gaming News
Published Date: Apr 23, 2007

Description:
When Broward’s new casinos began opening last fall, Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation required each operation to offer a self-exclusion program. Any gambler who wants to be excluded must come to the casino in person, admit they have a problem and sign the documents. At Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino, home to 1,218 slot machines, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has an office with the names and photos of self-excluders posted on the wall. But casinos admit they cannot watch every single person who comes through the door. Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling in Washington, D.C., says some gamblers believe the casinos don’t really try.

The brochure and registration form for
the Third National Aboriginal Gambling Awareness Conference being held
from June 5 - 7 in Winnipeg is available at the following website:

http://www.afm. mb.ca/Partnerships/NAGAC. htm

The registration form can be downloaded from the website and faxed in
to the address indicated. Plenary speakers include, Harold Wynne, Mark
Anielski and Lorna Dyall from New Zealand. There are a number of
excellent concurrent sessions scheduled also.

Kingston Whig-Standard/Osprey News Network, Ontario Life - Friday, May 04, 2007

A Kingston man is warning others to check their lottery tickets carefully after a strange turn of events turned his winning ticket into a loser then back into a winner again.

Ed Cardinal is an occasional Pro-Line sports gambler and this week he bet on two playoff hockey games on Tuesday night. He tossed in a baseball game to complete the ticket.

He chose the Chicago Cubs to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates and when rain forced the game to be stopped in the seventh inning, the Cubs were leading 6-5.

The final two innings were played the next afternoon prior to the two teams’ scheduled game, and the Cubs held on to win 8-6.

Cardinal had also correctly chosen the New York Rangers and Anaheim Ducks to win their hockey playoff games, but when he took his ticket to a store to claim his $21 jackpot, the self-scan machine told him it was not a winner. The machine was one that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation installed after widespread reports of retailer fraud.

Many people would have just crumpled up their tickets and tossed them, Cardinal believes, but he knew he had won.

“That afternoon, I checked the scores again and I did win all of those games,” he said.

He took the ticket to another store and asked the clerk to verify it from her side of the counter. Again it was declared not a winner as the computer seemed to believe that the Pirates had somehow won the game.

“She called the lottery people and they told her that there was a decision made on that game and it was a winning ticket, but I had to mail the ticket in to collect,” Cardinal said.

Don Pister, a spokesman for the lottery corporation, said yesterday that the problem occurred because of how Pro-Line chooses the winner of a game.

In baseball, a game is considered official after five innings are played, and that was the rule applied when the score was entered into the computer overnight on Tuesday. At that point of the game, the Pirates were leading 5-2.

Pister said lottery officials could not just suspend payouts on tickets that include games that are not completed. Sometimes it takes months for them to be rescheduled, and occasionally the game is never completed - if, for example, it is to be completed late in the season and by then the result would have no effect on playoffs.

Officials spent much time Wednesday figuring out how to resolve a situation where the team that won the game Wednesday was not the team that won Tuesday and figure out how to tell the computer because baseball games cannot end in ties.

“We don’t often have a game where there are two winners,” he observed.

Officials decided that any wager on that game would be considered a winner because someone who presented a ticket with the Pirates as the winner early in the day would have already been paid.

“We did not want to penalize the players, because this wasn’t their fault,” he said.

Later in the day, retailers got a message on their terminals explaining what was happening and a similar message was posted on the Pro-Line website. The main computers were not reconfigured to recognize the game as an automatic winner until 6 a.m. yesterday morning.

Until that change was made, players like Cardinal were told they could mail their tickets.

Pister said there was a large 6/49 draw on Wednesday night, and the last thing programmers wanted to do was tinker with the database while that was in progress, so the fix was installed after the draw had been made.

Pister said such situations happen from time to time and are an inevitable consequence of basing a lottery on live sporting events.

“Sports are fluid, 6/49 is pretty straightforward,” he said.

“Thankfully, it’s pretty unusual.”

For Cardinal, the incident has reinforced the importance of checking one’s tickets carefully instead of relying on machines to do it. He said he made his story public as a caution to others.

“I know a lot of guys will let their tickets pile up and then just check them all at once, and if the machine says they didn’t win, they’ll just throw them away.”

COREY LAROCQUE, Niagara Falls Review, Friday, May 04, 2007 @ 02:00

They’re all in. All the players with a stake in Niagara’s casino industry say they’ll take part in a meeting city council asked them to have to sort out the casinos’ community role in Niagara Falls.

All that remains now is to figure out when.

Niagara Casinos president Art Frank will join city and provincial officials, after city council passed a resolution calling on him, Ontario infrastructure minister David Caplan, Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor and Mayor Ted Salci to get together.

“Mr. Frank will certainly meet with the said group as soon as it is scheduled,” casinos spokesman Greg Medulun said Thursday.

City council said it was important to get them all together, because of a perceived change in the way the casinos are managed. Coun. Jim Diodati said because there has been so much “he said, she said,” they all need to be in the same room at the same time.

Diodati criticized the casinos for creating a “black hole” since Frank took the helm close to a year ago. Diodati said he’s worried the casino company has scaled back its financial support of community events like the Sleep Cheap, Charities Reap promotion he has organized for two years.

Medulun pointed to 10 years of supporting social agencies like the United Way and Project SHARE as evidence of the casinos’ goodwill in its host town. In a letter to the editor published in The Review Thursday, Frank referred to the $1 million the casinos’ Cares Foundation donates to the community and employment for 5,000 people as community benefits.

But he said “profitability” is the biggest contribution the casinos make.

“I believe everything else - economic spinoffs, secure employment, increased visitation, philanthropy - will follow,” Frank wrote.

A history of corporate citizenship doesn’t mean that’s the case now, Diodati said.

“Yesterday, you’ve done a lot of nice things. It seems today and tomorrow, you’re finished,” Diodati said.

A Niagara Falls restaurant owner told The Review he has lost business because a bus-tour company takes tourists to the casino where they get a free meal.

When casino-gambling came to town in 1996, a selling point was the economic spinoff existing businesses would get because there would be more tourists.

There has been some grumbling in the business community about whether the casinos are living up to that expectation.

“My understanding is the casino agreed to work with the community as a driver for tourism. One would hope that they haven’t lost sight of that,” said Chamber of Commerce president Carolyn Bones.

Salci and Frank met Thursday afternoon. Afterward, the Salci said Frank was “most receptive to have the meeting” involving Caplan, Craitor, Frank and the mayor.

Since Monday, each of the officials or their offices have confirmed to The Review they will take part.

The timing will revolve around Caplan’s schedule. But Salci said Caplan, who oversees the Ontario Lottery and Gaming corporation, told him recently he wants to come to Niagara to visit Frank.

Frank himself has never done an on-the-record interview with The Review.

Instead, he has delegated Medulun, the casino’s veteran public relations manager, as the spokesman for Niagara Casinos, the company that manages Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara. clarocque@nfreview.com

Last Updated: Thursday, May 3, 2007 | 5:59 PM AT, CBC News

A Sydney man who says his compulsive gambling cost him $500,000 and his marriage hopes a new report forces Nova Scotia’s two casinos to do a better job of dealing with problem gamblers.

Paul Burrell, who says he’s planning a lawsuit, filed a complaint against the Sydney casino last year, claiming staff stood by and watched as he gambled away his life savings.

He claimed casino workers did not fulfil their legal obligation to identify and bar people who appear to have a gambling problem.

The provincial ombudsman reviewed his complaint and late last month sent an interim report to Burrell and the other parties involved.

The report, obtained by CBC News, says casino staff are not enforcing that regulation and are relying instead on individuals to identify themselves to staff as having a problem.

Burrell, who is hoping the province will refund his losses and apologize, says true gambling addicts are unlikely to admit they have a problem, and if casino staff had done their job and barred him, his life would likely be very different today.

“It would have saved my marriage. It would have prevented me from gambling the monies that I did,” he told CBC News Thursday.

Burrell, who estimates he lost about $500,000 over three years, admits it would not have been easy to be told to stay away from the casino.

“I probably would have been mad because I was addicted, but there’s an obligation,” he said.

The ombudsman’s report recommends additional training for staff to identify problem gamblers, and urges the Department of Environment and Labour, which enforces alcohol and gaming regulations, to monitor the situation.

The parties have until the end of May to respond to the ombudsman’s “consultative report.”

A spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation would not comment specifically on Burrell’s case, but said staff are extensively trained in how to spot problem gamblers, and resource staff at both casinos are available to help people who feel they have a problem.

PAUL MCLEOD

The Halifax Daily News Daily News, 03/05/07

There are many people who want to wipe out problem gambling. The catch is, no one knows how to stop it.

That’s why the Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation (NSGF) hosted a roundtable discussion on problem gambling this week. The roundtable explored new research in the hopes of finding innovative ways to confront the issue of gambling.

“The problem is that the field is in its infancy,” said Rob Simpson, CEO of the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre and a speaker at the event.

“If you look at problem gambling’s closest cousins, drinking and smoking, we know much more about those two. We have 50 years of alcohol studies to look at. Whereas my company is the largest gatherer of gambling research in the world and we’ve only been around six years.”

New research, showing that gamblers fall into three types, was presented by Dalhousie psychiatry and psychology professor Sherry Stewart. According to Stewart’s team, the three types of gamblers are “coping gamblers,” “enhancement gamblers” and “low-emotion regulation gamblers.”

Coping gamblers are people who gamble to escape negative emotions such as depression or anxiety.

Enhancement gamblers are the thrill seekers. They do it for the rush of risking money and the high of winning.

The third group is the most curious to researchers. They don’t fall into either previous category and don’t tend to have any other mental health issues.

Researchers already know that problem gamblers are most likely to be one of the first two types. Stewart hopes that before long, they can develop specific treatments for each type.

The NSGF is an arms-length government organization that offers funding to Nova Scotia community groups and researchers dealing with problem gambling. Almost 100 people came to the roundtable to discuss the foundation’s future direction.

Among those in attendance were people affected by problem gambling in various capacities, from friends and family members to advocates to community workers.

The NSGF ultimately hopes to find the best way to address problem gambling in the future.

“Optimism is the theme of the day,” said Simpson. “You have to define the problem. Today we went a long way in defining problem gambling in a way that we’ll have more insightful solutions.”

pmcleod@hfxnews.ca

The Ottawa Citizen, Saturday, May 05, 2007

Re: Business owners roll dice on Bank Street casino plan, May 3.

Building a casino in Ottawa would be a tragic attack on the most vulnerable people in our society. While revenues from gambling can be easily measured, the unfathomable monetary and emotional cost to society cannot: lost savings, retirement funds, jobs, homes; suicides; costs of funerals, family breakups, children with no future hope, children with absent or poor role models, addictive lifestyles of future generations, psychological counselling, welfare, crime to support addictions, legal system, prisons, reintegration and many other costs. Gambling has no place in our society.

Proponents of gambling claim that they are being responsible by offering self-exclusion programs. The wall of brochures available at the casino in Gatineau clearly indicates their real interests. Here’s a clue: the self-exclusion program brochure is not the bright shiny one dressed in hues of orange and red. Neither is it the one titled “Casino - Have it all!” The “For Sale” sign on a victim’s home pales against the glamour of the bright colourful lights, billboards and classy uniforms inside the casino.

About 50 people request self-exclusion from the casino in Gatineau each week. How many should but do not? How many men, women and children must hurt to recognize the problem? Even without casinos, lotteries, scratch cards, betting pools, bingos and internet poker go unchecked and have no self-exclusion programs. Victims of gambling should call the Ontario Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-888-230-3505 or go online at opgh.on.ca.

Governments are addicted to gambling, too. They rationalize the huge revenues and costs to society by supporting noble organizations such as hospitals and charities that serve us all.

We elect governments to act in our best interests, so we must insist Ontario maintain its moratorium on new or expanded casinos.

In fact, we ought to close existing casinos and other gambling venues. Let real “well-fare” begin.

Preying on vulnerable people is a crime. We imprison drug dealers. Should we imprison governments and their supporters, too? I don’t see the difference. Do you?

The good life of Ottawa is not worth the gamble. For the love of God, your family, friends and acquaintances, reject any proposal for a casino.

Doug Rochow, Ottawa