Gamblor’s World

Jean-Francois Bertrand, The Ottawa Citizen, Saturday, June 23, 2007

“It was not a royale year at the Casino du Lac-Leamy.

For 2006-2007, revenues at the casino dropped by 3.9 per cent over the previous year, to $201.9 million. These figures exclude gamblers’ expenditures at the restaurants and the Hilton Lac-Leamy.

Loto-Quebec’s annual report, published earlier this week, attributes this decrease to the casino’s unique situation, a “particularly strong competition in its immediate market.”

Catherine Schellenberg, the casino’s spokeswoman explained that the Gatineau gambling institution is near the Thousand Islands Charity Casino in Gananoque, another across the border in Akwesasne, New York, and even Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ont. The latter is aggressively courting the group market, those travelling by the busload to gamble, said Ms. Schellenberg.

“Las Vegas, Atlantic City, that’s not our competition. But Fallsview, we feel its impact.”

Moreover, due to provincial regulations, the Casino du Lac-Leamy is not able to ride the wave of popularity of Texas hold ‘em poker. For that, local card players go to Akwesasne, a stone’s throw from Cornwall, online or play among friends in their basement.

Quebec’s casinos are also at a disadvantage to Ontario when it comes to new games.

Ms. Schellenberg said that because of different regulations, Ontario is able to certify new slot games quicker than Quebec, which allows the neighbouring province to put more new games on the market each year. Demographics is also a factor in lower revenues.

“Young adults, brought up on XBoxes, are searching for something more interactive, they want the feeling of being in control,” said Ms. Schellenberg, adding this could explain the popularity of poker for that clientele.

Early in the last fiscal year, which ended on March 31, Quebec enacted new anti-smoking legislation. While the gaming floor had been non-smoking for years, there were ventilated smoking lounges in the aisles. They were closed on May 1, 2006, and smokers at Casino du Lac-Leamy had to step outside to light up, as they have been doing at Rideau-Carleton Raceway Slots since 2002.

Attendance at the Casino, which was a 3.3 million in its first 12 moths, 11 years ago, has shown modest increases over the last few years, from 3.3 million yearly visitors by March 2005 to 3.4 million in 2006 to 3.5 million by the end of last March. The novelty factor is wearing off, said Ms. Schellenberg. In order to increase its revenues, a new position was created last year at Lac-Leamy to lure high rollers by offering them junkets.

“Before, we were only welcoming them. Now, we’re making an extra effort to get them here,” she said. The target are players who travel the world to gamble. The casino can attract these spenders by offering complementary hotel rooms at the Hilton next door, something Montreal cannot do, given the location of its casino on the former Expo site.

“Upon request, we can give them tickets to events such as the Bluesfest, or seats for a Sens game. It’s a bit like a concierge,” she said.”

© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

By VALERIE DUFOUR, Calgary SUN MEDIA, Sat, March 17, 2007.

Gambler wants VLT ban, Clotilde Berube is a compulsive gambler. She has unsuccessfully tried to get Quebec’s casinos shut down, and now seeks to rid the province of VLTs.

Clotilde Berube is sick, but not with an illness that stops her from going out. The 58-year-old woman is a compulsive gambler and that compulsion led her to burn through more than $1 million at the Casino du Lac-Leamy.

“In the beginning, it was a game, but I eventually lost control. I never thought I would become a slave to it,” Berube told Sun Media in French.

The compulsive gambler decided to speak about her experience in casinos after the release of a tell-all book by a former croupier named Eleonore Mainguy.

HUSBAND DIED

It was the death of Berube’s husband in 1996 that sent the lawyer’s life off course.

Overcome with grief, she sought refuge in diversions, including going to the Casino du Lac-Leamy daily.

“I would go to the casino crying. Once there, I’d become a different person. I’d forget everything,” she said.

She said she’d leave for the casino at around 11 a.m. and spend the afternoon there before picking up her daughter around 5 p.m. She’d eat dinner and return to the casino at around 8 p.m.

Berube said she followed that routine every day for five years.

“I didn’t think you could become sick from gambling, but the casino was a crutch,” she said.

At the time, Berube had the money to make big bets. The professional success she and her husband had enjoyed allowed them to live in an upscale Ottawa neighbourhood and to buy eight other properties in the capital region.

“There comes a moment when you stop looking at money the same way,” Berube said.

She said she took home some big winnings, but the money didn’t matter to her.

“All I wanted was to keep playing,” she said.

Berube said she would always bring $20,000 to $25,000 cash in her bag and once made a $10,000 bet playing baccarat.

Pathological gambling is worse than alcoholism, she said. When you drink you crash after drinking 40 ounces, but gambling is more deceitful. Nothing can stop you and your body keeps going like a machine, she said.

BIG STAKES ROOM

Her gambling habits also evolved over time. She went from card games to the slot machines. And because she was a good customer, she had access to the big stakes rooms and received special treatment.

“I was a VIP client,” said Berube, who added that all her meals were paid for and she was given several weekend ski trips to Mont Tremblant as gifts. She said Loto-Quebec also paid to celebrate her kids’ birthday on a boat with all their friends.

Berube has been through therapy three or four times.

“It’s like a drug. What I’ve found as a compromise is I go to the U.S. once every two months and spend $500 and play poker. I hate myself for doing it, but I need to.”

from http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/03/02/youth-marketing.html
Last Updated: Friday, March 2, 2007 | 5:46 PM ET
CBC News
“”Don’t do it” is the wrong message to send teenagers if you want them not to gamble, a new study says.

Based on 30 focus groups with teenagers in southeastern Ontario and Montreal, two researchers concluded that it’s easy for ad campaigns designed to discourage certain behaviours to run afoul of the target audience.

Carmen Messerlian and Jeffrey Derevensky concluded that teenagers:

Reject one-sided campaigns as unrealistic.
Don’t respond to don’t do it.
Get bored with ads that are repeated too often.
In an anti-gambling campaign, the teenagers thought ads that focused on the negatives — loss of sleep, missing school or work, harm to friends and family, emotional stress and financial costs — would be most effective.

They also said they were concerned that the government makes money from gambling.

And the gambling industry didn’t escape criticism.”

continued ….

From a study that was published in the March/April issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health.

Hundreds to go near harness racing tracks

Dave Rogers, The Ottawa Citizen, Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The Outaouais medical officer of health has joined 17 other public health officials throughout Quebec in condemning a Loto-Quebec plan to operate hundreds of video lottery terminals near harness racing tracks and at Mont Tremblant.

Dr. Lucie Lemieux said yesterday that combining betting on horses with video lottery terminals will increase gambling addiction that can lead to indebtedness, lost jobs, broken marriages, mental health problems and suicide.

She said public health officials suspect that the planned gaming lounges will be marketed as family entertainment because some will be built at sites visited by people of all ages.

“We are concerned that a planned publicity campaign will increase the number of people who use gambling machines and go to the race track,” Dr. Lemieux said.

“The combination of the hippodromes and gambling machines creates a high risk of addiction. We know that 24 per cent of people who play the horses and use video lottery terminals will develop some form of gambling problem.”

Loto-Quebec plans to build three gaming lounges near harness racing tracks and one at Mont Tremblant during the next two years.

The gaming lounges will add 1,770 video lottery terminals to the 430 that already exist at the tracks.

There will be 235 more machines at the Quebec City track, 135 more at Trois-Rivieres, 1,300 at a new Laval track north of Montreal and 300 at Mont Tremblant.

No new machines will be installed at the Hippodrome d’Aylmer harness racing track.

The harness racing operator, Attractions Hippiques, owned by Liberal senator Paul Massicotte, will receive 22 per cent of the profits from the gaming lounges.

Loto-Quebec spokeswoman Marie-Claude Rivet said the government agency will study the recommendations of the province’s medical officers, but added problem gambling hasn’t increased.

She said between 1996 and 2002, the number of probable compulsive gamblers as a portion of the province’s adult population dropped to 0.8 per cent from one per cent.

“During that time, the corporation’s revenues grew by 40 per cent, so this increase did not result from any escalation in excessive gaming.”

An Outaouais health department study in March 2006 found 430 video lottery terminals in Gatineau, including 65 at the Hippodrome d’Aylmer — one for every 546 people in the city of 235,000.

Dr. Lemieux said most of the gaming lounges will be in poor neighbourhoods where people can least afford to lose money. She said Loto-Quebec says it has modified the terminals to make them less addictive, but there has been no analysis of how effective the changes are.

“What we are saying is that there should be no more than two gambling machines for every 1,000 people over the age of 18,” Dr. Lemieux said. “The government should make sure there is no outside advertising, no sponsorship and that there are programs to reduce the number of problem gamblers. The government should invest in treatment and prevention.

She said development of gaming lounges should be put on hold until Quebec has a policy on gambling.

Dr. Lemieux said there are about 3,000 problem gamblers in the Outaouais. She said there are 60 to 70 suicides a year in that region. She believes many are gambling-related, but she could not say how many, nor provide evidence of the link.

Quebec’s 18 medical officers of health recommended that gaming lounges remain open no more than 12 hours a day, there be no outside advertising of the lounges, no sponsorship of gambling, no automatic tellers nearby and that access to the rooms be limited to people over age 18.

Attractions Hippiques owns the Hippodrome d’Aylmer and a track in Trois Rivieres. The company rents a track at Quebec City and plans to build a new track at Laval, near Montreal, to replace Blue Bonnets, which it manages.

Mr. Massicotte said in a news release yesterday that the company is promoting responsible gambling for pleasure, not social or financial problems.

“Thanks to our follow-up systems, the presence of our staff and existing programs, we are already helping our clients to gamble responsibly,” Mr. Massicotte said.

“We have signed business agreements with cities and other agreements with the government. We are counting on fulfilling our contractual obligations for all the Quebec population.”

© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

Montréal, February 20, 2007 - The Public Health Department issued a statement today concerning the establishment of gaming centres in the province. Loto-Québec has taken note of this document, which does not express any opposition to the project, but rather, focuses on operating methods. In actual fact, although the statement should have dealt with the gaming centres per se, it concentrates primarily on aspects not related to the project whatsoever. For the present time, Loto-Québec wishes to outline certain preliminary observations. Subsequently, the Corporation intends to take all the time necessary to study the document in depth.

To begin with, Loto-Québec has observed that the data used related to game offerings is the same that led the Institut national de santé publique and Université Laval’s Centre québécois d’excellence pour la prévention et le traitement du jeu to conclude that, from 1996 to 2002, the number of probable compulsive gamblers within the province’s adult population remained stable. In fact, this number declined from 1% to 0.8% during the period, now representing between 35,000 and 56,000 individuals. And yet, it is also important to note that this stability in the prevalence of pathological gaming within the adult population was observed at a time when the Corporation’s revenues grew by 40%. As such, this increase in earnings did not result in any escalation of the excessive gaming phenomenon.

After an initial review of the document, it is apparent that the authors lump together players at risk with compulsive gamblers, which serves to amplify the phenomenon. Moreover, the document also shows a confused definition of the notion of game offerings - sometimes denoting the number of game terminals, other times the number or type of sites, sometimes referring to geography, and other times to household income. The approach proposed to the Government by Loto-Québec in its 2004-2007 Development Plan is very clear. It is based on diminishing accessibility, as was recommended by the only study conducted on the subject. That is why the Corporation established its priority as being to reduce the number of existing sites and concentrate the units at controlled sites.

The gaming centres constitute a new concept in Québec. Therefore, one would have thought that in preparing and substantiating their document, the authors would have seen the value in examining similar experiences in other jurisdictions, most notably in Ontario, which has 17 gaming centres twinned with racetracks.

In conclusion, Loto-Québec has observed that the external consultant engaged to help prepare this statement is the same individual serving in a consulting role in conjunction with a class action launched against the Corporation. As such, Loto-Québec would hope to see an independent evaluation carried out by a team of international experts who would examine the data on which this document is based with total objectivity.

Once again, Loto-Québec will be taking all the time required to analyze and evaluate the Public Health Department’s document. In the meantime, the Corporation wishes to reiterate that its video lottery network reconfiguration initiative is aimed at reducing accessibility by closing 31% of existing sites and regrouping the units withdrawn from bars and brasseries within environments governed by a series of precise control and prevention measures. Initiated in 2005, this reconfiguration effort has achieved over 50% of its objective to date.

Marie-Claude Rivet

Société des salons de jeux du Québec

12 Dec, 10:10 PM

QUEBEC (CP) - The Quebec government referred to the provincial police the auditor general’s report which highlights questionable spending and $15 million in missing funds given to the province’s horse racetracks.

After reviewing the report, Finance Minister Michel Audet handed the document to the head of the provincial police force, said a spokesman for the minister.

“It will now be up to the (Surete du Quebec) to decide what steps to take,” Michel Rochette told The Canadian Press.

In his report to the national assembly, auditor general Renaud Lachance shed light on “questionable” and “incorrect” management practices of the provincial agency created in 1999 to run the province’s four tracks in Quebec City, Montreal, Trois-Rivieres, and Gatineau.

Between 1999 and 2005, the former Crown corporation and its subsidiaries received nearly $260 million from the government, including $183.8 million in direct support and $75.9 million from video lottery terminals.

Procedures were so deficient that Lachance was unable to trace $15 million in expenditures.

Lachance also disclosed “a history of horrors” on other matters.

For example, a manager earning $100,000 received $82,500 when he was fired. The agency then paid him more than $350,000 for the same functions over the next two years.

nother manager was reimbursed $12,000 to cover the cost of renting an airplane. No evidence could be found that an advance of $22,000 was repaid before he left the agency last year.

Over six years, 14 managers received reimbursements totalling $738,600, even though nearly half the sum was unjustified or insufficiently explained.

The auditor general also revealed situations when the horseracing agency SONACC contravened tax regulations.

One manager received $22,000 to cover operating and gasoline costs over three years for his automobile even though the money wasn’t listed as a taxable benefit.

Employees and managers benefited from “free meals” totalling $1 million at racetrack restaurants.

Lachance described the situation as “an open bar.”

Five of the nine members of SONACC’s board of directors also received questionable benefits.

One administrator pocketed $42,750 for attending golf tournaments and business meals.

Others received $20,000 for meetings even though there is no evidence they took place.

Over five years, SONACC gave board members $781,000 (including $444,000 in remuneration) even though the government opposed paying publc officials who worked part-time.

In June 2005, the Charest government fired all board members after it initiated the privatization of the racetracks.

The centres were taken over by a Quebec company owned by Senator Paul Massicotte.

During a news conference, Lachance invited the government to take steps to recover some of the money.

The Quebec government said it will weigh its options, but said any irregularities occurred when the Parti Quebecois was in charge and former premier Bernard Landry was finance

Minister.

Copyright © Canadian Press.

The Gazette, Thursday, December 14, 2006

Premier Jean Charest commented yesterday on the finding of Quebec’s auditor-general that the public corporation formed to run the horse-racing industry may have misappropriated $15 million before it was privatized this year.

“It’s a scandal,” Charest said. “Some people should just clearly be ashamed.”

He added that these kinds of abuses and other management issues in Quebec’s public-sector entreprises that occurred while the Parti Quebecois was in power led his government to propose tougher rules of corporate governance.

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006

© 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.

Source: CBC News
Published: Dec 14, 06

Full Document:
QUEBEC – Compulsive gambling will increase in Quebec if the province goes ahead with a plan to install video lottery terminals at horse racing tracks, an anti-gambling coalition warns. The Emjeu coalition held a news conference Wednesday to demand a moratorium on the VLTs until the province’s public health authority has time to further study their impact on compulsive gambling. The coalition’s call comes as the province’s gaming commission, Loto-Québec, takes steps to remove from bars about 2,500 VLTs — about one-third of the total provincewide. Instead, as part of a government-approved plan, the terminals are to be installed in four centres being created at horse racing tracks. Loto-Québec says moving the VLTs to the tracks will restrict everyday access and help control their use. But the activists argued that the relocation would not eliminate the temptation to gamble — but would instead increase it. “They remove machines from bars that were not truly profitable for them, and they move them into these buildings. By virtue of the fact that it’s a novelty, they’re in new locations, they’re going to attract new customers,” said Sol Boxenbaum, a gambling critic with Viva Consulting who supports the call for a VLT moratorium. VLTs are ubiquitous in Quebec bars and represent about $118 million in annual revenues for the provincial government. Loto-Québec estimates that moving them to tracks will increase profits by as much as $3 million a year. Loto-Québec, which has already started removing some of the VLTs from bars, defended the move. “Everybody looking [younger] than 30 years will be asked for ID,” said Marie-Claude Rivet, a Loto-Québec spokeswoman. The VLT centres will open in Quebec City and Trois-Rivières in fall 2007. Two other centres, in Mont-Tremblant and Montreal, are scheduled to open in 2009.

Dec. 16, 2006. 01:00 AM, Toronto Star

There can’t be many fields where someone earns a salary of $100,000 and picks up $82,500 worth of severance pay when he gives up his job voluntarily. There must be even fewer employers who would immediately rehire that person as a “consultant” in exchange for $350,000 over two years.

Oh, and by the way, for those who might find these conditions not quite enticing enough, note that on top of that amount, the employee received a $7,500 “standby fee.” It’s a paying proposition, standing by.

No, we’re not in the wonderful world of advertising, sponsorships and the federal government in the good old days of Chuck Guite and Alfonso Gagliano.

Welcome to the Quebec horse-racing industry, as revealed this week by Quebec’s auditor general, Renaud Lachance.

I’ve always been a little stunned to see how well that moribund industry succeeded, year after year, in getting grants by the cartload, without ever managing to dig itself out of the hole.

Are we dealing with a strategic industry? No. Breeders and a few jobs in the stables are what get financed. Is this an activity that attracts tourists? Apparently not. It doesn’t even attract gamblers under 65 anymore — they’re over at the casino.

Year after year an aging public turns up, despite the best efforts to make this a “family activity.”

And, in fact, why would the government finance gambling, which used to be called a vice? The only reason for the government to involve itself in gambling is to get its hands on revenues, revenues that would otherwise go to organized crime. But to give this industry money?

Nevertheless, back when Bernard Landry was finance minister under the regime of Lucien Bouchard, he succeeded in persuading the government to provide massive support for the Société nationale du cheval de course (SONACC), an organization created in 1999 to manage Quebec’s four racetracks and to “boost” the industry.

Result: Between 1999 and 2005, Quebec pumped $260 million into the horse-racing industry, $184 million in direct “financial assistance” and $76 million in revenues from video poker terminals installed in the racetracks by the government.

What was that money used for? Mostly for increasing the purses for races ($181 million). Also for improving infrastructure ($32 million). Highly debatable from the standpoint of principles, but completely regular in terms of management, said the auditor general. This is a gladdening bit of news because we know that certain SONACC directors own racehorses themselves and, therefore, have an interest in the purses.

But that’s not the object of the auditor general’s criticism. The problem, he says, is not the money and what we know it’s been wasted — sorry, spent — on. That’s a political choice. The auditor’s problem is the money that disappeared.

Because this non-profit corporation was so badly managed that $15 million quite simply vanished from the accounts. Unjustified bonuses of tens of thousands of dollars, golf tournaments reimbursed, meals (more than $1 million) and other unsubstantiated expenses are all part of the “open bar.” An operation that enjoyed its finest years under the Parti Québécois, from 1999 to 2003.

This week, the Liberal government, of course, was only too happy to say it had referred the matter to the provincial police.

“Only a judge can decide whether there has been fraud,” said Lachance. “I have suggested to the government that they take steps to recoup the money.”

SONACC is effectively a PQ creature, and its former president part of Landry’s circle. He is in no way targeted by the report, but he can certainly be reproached for not having put a control mechanism in place.

At the same time, one can’t help but notice that to resolve the industry’s problem, Quebec “privatized” the racetracks — installing gambling salons containing 1,900 video poker terminals, which will bring the private firm $36 million in annual revenues for 25 years. It can be asked why the government is turning over this money to the racetrack operator, rather than to hospitals or to the development of some other industry. This is once again a way, albeit indirect, of conferring special status on horse racing.

But it’s all according to that well-known government logic: We’ve put so much money into it, we can’t let go now!

That’s also what gamblers tell themselves very late at night, when they’ve lost almost everything: Let’s keep going, things will turn around.

Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.

You are invited to attend a major bilingual press
conference.

Our coalition of groups represents all parts of Quebec.
We have been successful in the past in joining with other grass
roots organizations of blocking the planned move of Montreal
Casino to the Peel basin. We are asking the government to
put a moratorium on expansion. They have recently given a
contract to Senator Paul Massicotte to operate an “entertainment
centre” housing several hundred video lottery terminals without public
consultation.

The people of Mont Tremblant already responded in 2001 that
they didn’t want a casino. There are also plans to build these
mini-casinos attached to the Trois Rivieres and Quebec City
racetracks and one to be built in Laval, PQ. There are two studies
presently being done by public health with results to be made public in
January. All the details as to time and location are below.

La coalition EmJEU demande un moratoire sur les salons de
jeux

Loto-Québec annonçait que suite à l’échec de son projet
de déménagement du casino, elle envisagerait de renoncer à
tout accroissement de sa clientèle. Pourtant, Loto-Québec va
de l’avant avec la création de salons de jeux qui coûteront aux
contribuables plus d’un quart de milliard de dollars, et ce, sans
consultation et sans attendre deux importants avis de santé publique.

EmJEU convie les médias à une conférence de presse qui
aura lieu ce mercredi. Des représentants la coalition prendront la
parole pour dénoncer cette importante augmentation de l’offre de jeu
au Québec et pour exiger un moratoire sur leur construction.

Pavillon Thérèse Gasgrain de l’UQÀM, 13hre (précise)
4iéme étage, salle W-4210
450 René-Lévesque Est (Coin Berri)

Montréal

Renseignements:

Alain Dubois, (514) 716-3065;
Sol Boxenbaum (514) 488-6226