Stay Clear of Quebec Public Health Officials - They are a Health Risk
Sheesh. Why is it that as soon as something good happens in Canada related to
online gambling, then someone or some organization has to come along and shoot
it down? Here's what I'm talking about. After Loto-Québec (which is owned
and operated by the Canadian province of Québec) announced recently that it is
going ahead with the launch of an online gambling website in September 2010,
Canadian online gambling fans let out a collective whoop of joy - myself
included.
As a long-time and avid online gambling fan, even I could see the benefit of
signing up with and playing on a Canadian-owned and run online gambling website
to offer me greater levels of player protection (than I would find at most
offshore-owned online gambling websites). Plus, as a patriot I don't have a
problem with keeping online gambling revenues in the province and thus in
Canada. And, I'd like to see more controls for online gambling in Canada as they
can only benefit me.
However, whatever 'warm and fuzzy' feeling I may have had toward Loto-Québec and
the province of Québec was unfortunately offset recently by what I feel are
stupid remarks made by a senior Montreal public health official. Montreal's
public health director, Dr. Richard Lessard, was recently quoted as saying: 'A
severe health risk comes with gambling, especially gambling online. And it is
much easier for someone to become addicted to gambling if they play online.
Therefore, the government needs to do more research before getting into online
gambling.'
There it is again, the same old dusty and by now completely desiccated argument.
Because of a few individuals (a tiny percentage of the whole) who are unable to
control their gambling habits, and thus become sad poster men and women for
problem gamblers everywhere, the rest of us - who gamble online responsibly and
have long since grasped the concept of moderation - may well have to bite the
bullet.
Now I'm not trying to come across as a cold or uncaring person, but I believe that once a person reaches the age of 18 (which is pretty much the minimum age anywhere in the world to gamble online legally) he or she must take responsibility for his or her actions. This means learning to drive a car without risking the lives of others, drinking responsibly, having sex responsibly (because children and/or AIDS are for life), handling credit cards responsibly and so on.
Why then given centuries of proof of our human nature do we still have to listen to so-called intellectuals like Lessard spouting the following? 'It's too soon to go online. We think there should be a moratorium on the implementation of online gambling, and during that one year or more period, we think there should be an expert committee to analyze the impact on health in particular. The negative impact that gambling has on health far outweighs the financial windfall for the province.'
Hey Lessard how about instituting a 1-year moratorium on land casino gambling, horseracing, the sale of alcohol, hunting, skiing, parachuting, playing ice hockey and the thousands of other activities that millions of Canadians partake in each year, that inevitably result in some injuries and/or deaths?
 | Posted by Anton Johan at 09:00 on 22 February 2010 |
