The provincial government hasn’t decided if it will get involved in online gambling, says Finance Minister Wes Sheridan.
But he said Thursday the province has agreed to let Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) look at possible changes to its Playsphere website to possibly include online gambling.
“We’re waiting to see what they come back with,” the minister said.
Although ALC has given an estimate of around $50 million in potential revenues from online gaming, Sheridan said if the province adopted online gambling it would provide a regulated and policed site.
“This is not about the money.”
If P.E.I. were to get involved with online gambling, it wouldn’t be the first province to do so after British Columbia opened an online casino in July and Ontario announced its intention to get into online gaming earlier this month.
Sheridan said less than one per cent of the province’s revenues come from lotto earnings and he didn’t know how possible changes to the Playsphere site would affect earnings.
“No decision has been made with what games would be on the site.”
Last year, P.E.I. took in $14.7 million in lotto earnings, which was about $3 million less than the previous year.
The problem with online gambling now is some Islanders play on offshore websites with no regulation, but through ALC there would be more control over what happens on their online gambling site, Sheridan said.
“That’s what would be implemented if we went forward with a regulated regime.”
UPEI political studies professor Peter McKenna has studied the effects of gambling and said offshore gambling sites do exist, but that doesn’t mean the government should get involved in the industry.
“Does that mean it’s OK for the provincial government to move into that market? My response is no.”
McKenna had several concerns about the government getting involved with online gambling, including the possibility of
an increase in the number of gambling addicts, which is already a serious problem.
Nobody knows the full scope of the effects of online gambling because not enough studies have been done on the subject, he said.
“It’s not something that provincial governments have latched onto yet.”
McKenna said video lottery terminals have done a lot of damage to gambling addicts and P.E.I. would make a huge mistake if the province got involved in online gaming.
“To me it’s bad public policy. It diminishes politicians and it’s the wrong thing to do.”
As for the province trying to limit gambling, McKenna said gamblers are the customers on an online gambling site and it’s a conflict of interest to try and make money off them and limit how much they play.
