Gamblor’s World

August 23, 2007, Posted By Tom Jones, Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com

Just a few days after the UK was not-so-shocked to find that Bet365, an online gambling company, gave more than 150,000 pounds in contributions to Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, the US lobbying group, The American Gaming Association, released their reports that declared more than $900,000 was spent lobbying Washington politicians the first half of 2007.

The American Gaming Association represents the majority of the major land based gambling companies in the US, such as Harrah’s Entertainment, Bally Technologies, and MGM Mirage. There are fifty more gambling related companies that the group represents.

All lobby groups in the US are required by federal law to report their spending if their intentions are to influence the executive or legislative branches.

continued ….

Former BC Lottery chief gets 600000 in severance

Last Updated: Thursday, August 23, 2007 | 6:14 PM PT, CBC News

The British Columbia Lottery Corp. has agreed to pay former president and CEO Vic Poleschuk, who was fired on June 1, more than $600,000 in severance.

The lottery corporation says it is obliged to pay the severance because legally, Poleschuk was terminated without cause.

Vic Poleschuk will take home more than $600,000 in severance under an agreement made public by the B.C. Lottery Corp.

(CBC) Information about the package is being revealed two months after Poleschuk was fired on the heels of a scathing report by provincial ombudsman Kim Carter that found ticket retailers were winning too often.

Carter said the lottery system is open to abuse and possible fraud, and lottery officials had failed to protect customers.

An independent audit released Thursday found that the lottery corporation doesn’t have sufficient security to stop retailers from fraudulently claiming prizes.

One of the major security shortfalls is that the corporation has inadequate methods for ensuring retailers who win do so legally, the audit found.

Ron Parks, who wrote the audit report, said new measures need to be put in place but that still wouldn’t provide total security.

“There is always possibility that there is going to be fraud at a lower level,” he said. “As in any business venture or anything that involves cash, there is always some exposure.”

Meanwhile, in detailing the terms of the severance agreement that was also released Thursday, the B.C. Lottery Corp. said Poleschuk’s severance is in accordance with the terms of his employment agreement.

The package includes $412,500 in wages (18 months’ salary), a $144,375 performance bonus and $26,600 in benefits. He is also entitled to a $1,100 per month car allowance during for the 18 months following his termination.

At the time of the termination, Poleschuk’s annual salary was $275,000, plus the car allowance and an annual performance bonus of 45 per cent of his annual salary.

Over 22 years, Poleschuk earned pension benefits from both the British Columbia Lottery Corp. pension plan and the supplementary pension plan for the president of corporation.

During the 18 month salary continuation period, Poleschuk will remain a member of both pension plans and pension accrual will be on the same terms as before his termination. Poleschuk has not given consent to release personal information related to the terms and amount of his pension.

Copyright © CBC 2007

at http://www.education.mcgill. ca/gambling/

Governments’ addiction to gambling doesn’t sit right
The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, July 30, 2007

Traditionalists will argue that gambling is a vice, and a destructive one at that. But even those of us who are reluctant to make moral judgments should be uncomfortable with the way governments exploit, and promote, a potentially addictive behaviour.

A new Statistics Canada report confirms that we live in a gambling nation. Nearly 70 per cent of Canadian households have a member who gambles at least once a year. Here’s the jaw-dropper: All the gambling activity combined — lotteries, video-lottery terminals, casinos — brings in some $13.3 billion to government coffers. That figure is from 2006. In 1992, governments brought in $2.7 billion from state-controlled gambling. In other words, the government’s yearly haul is dramatically increasing.

Clearly, governments are addicted to gambling revenue. The question is, should Canadians be alarmed at this growing dependency? That $13.3 billion pays for a lot of hip replacements, school renovations and highway repairs. But there is an unspoken cost attached to the windfall, namely, the broken homes, lost jobs and suicides that too often are the lot of compulsive gamblers.

continued at http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=94141dc5-9eea-40dc-8137-d2684408d958

at www.femalegamblers.org