Alberta Expresses Interest in Online Gambling
As other provinces make public their desire to legalize online gambling, Alberta officials have also declared their interest in moving forward in this direction.
"We've definitely been researching and monitoring online gaming for a number of years," said a spokeswoman for the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, Lynn Hutchings-Mah, admitting that gaming "does generate revenue".
One of the reasons why Alberta is considering a change in direction is the fact that revenue from traditional sources of gambling have dropped by 15% in previous years.
In the meantime, community groups are worried that if the province adopts online gambling they will not get a cut of the revenues.
"You can bet that if the province made decisions with respect to online gaming that would decrease revenue, then they're in trouble with the not for profit sector," noted a spokesperson for the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues.
Others are also concerned about the introduction of online gambling and its implications.
"There's potential in it for an increase in problem gambling, potential for the increase in youth gambling," said Garry Smith of the Alberta Gambling Research Institute. "It's very hard to supervise people. They can do it at home. There's no precautions out there. It would be difficult to stop money laundering using it, and it might just increase people's overall gambling rate."
Quebec is expected to introduce online gambling in September, while BC and the Maritime provinces already have internet gambling sites.
On Tuesday, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said that the province would be offering gambling by 2012.
