Manitoba Premier Comments on Internet Gambling
The Canadian province of Manitoba is not ready to rush headlong into the online gambling market, and will take things slow in a bid to examine the issue beforehand.
This is the message put out by Premier Greg Selinger, despite the fact that British Columbia and some of the Atlantic provinces have already made plans to introduce online gambling.
"We want a careful review of whether it's positive for people who play online," said the Premier. "There are over 2,000 unregulated sites right now that people can participate in with no protections in terms of addictions and supports. On the other hand, we do not want to do anything that would be negative to the public."
A number of provinces have made the move to introduce government sanctioned online casinos to tap a portion of the millions of dollars spent every year by Canadians at offshore gambling sites.
There have been unconfirmed reports that several casinos will club together to create a national mobile gambling platform where Canadians will be able to partake in casino and poker games.
Manitoba Lotteries Corporation, in its latest report, showed a $8 million decrease in gross revenue from the previous year. The recession was blamed, as well as the decrease in revenue from video lottery games.
As such, the lottery was seeking new ways to expand its business, including the option of online gambling.
The question is now being asked whether Selinger will push to make a decision regarding Manitoba's inclusion in the growing online gambling industry in the near future, or whether the decision will be made next year which happens to be a provincial election year.
Issues such as support, customer protection, addiction and safety will all have to be examined properly, said Selinger.
