Nova Scotia Orders New Gambling Study
The minister responsible for gambling in the Nova Scotia government has announced that a new study on the impact of gaming on the Canadian province will be commissioned in the near future.
This is the second such study to be ordered, after the government shelved the draft report of the previous study two years ago.
The new research, according to the minister, will be "well-founded" and will include a look at how gambling is linked to suicide rates in the province, if at all. Also to be examined is the economic impact of gambling, the health costs and benefits to the province.
Wilson said: "We've committed to doing a proper, well-founded research study on the social and economic impact of gaming here in Nova Scotia."
A timeline for the study should be known sometime next year, according to the minister. "When we have those details, we'll bring them forward," he said.
Findings in Previous Draft Report
Two years ago, the study that was subsequently shelved showed that there were heavy costs to the province from gambling. The report, for example, linked six suicides a year to gambling problems, and one fifth of the problem gamblers interviewed (11 out of 55), said that gambling caused mental or physical problems.
However, it cannot be ignored that gambling contributes enormously to Nova Scotia in terms of finance and revenue, with nearly $100 million out of $146 million generated by video lottery terminals in the province.
Nonetheless, anti-gambling groups are calling on government departments to collect data so that researchers can use it in their study.
"If the last study taught us anything," said Terry Fulmer of the Game Over VLT's group, "it is that the government has some of this information and doesn't release it, or in other cases they don't tell their people to collect the information."
