Sunday, February 25, 2007

The province's lottery corporation wants more British Columbians to take up
gaming, as the government that once vowed as party policy to halt the growth
of gambling in B.C. reaps ever increasing revenue from it. "They are
becoming gaming crackheads," NDP Crown corporations critic Guy Gentner
charged yesterday, noting that government income from gambling in the
province for the coming fiscal year is projected to soar to more than
$1-billion for the first time. By 2009-2010, the B.C. Lottery Corp. (BCLC)
plans to swell government coffers by $1.142-billion from gambling proceeds,
a three-year increase of 15 per cent and more than double what the province
earned from gaming when the Liberals came to power with their anti-gambling
rhetoric in 2001. The government-owned Lottery Corp. is also out to increase
public participation in legal gambling, including lottery ticket purchases,
to 68 per cent of the adult population from 65 per cent over the next three
years. The lottery corporation's recently released, three-year service plan
unveils an ambitious agenda to turn existing casinos into lavish,
multipurpose facilities such as the River Rock casino in Richmond, increase
the number of slot machines in once-dowdy bingo emporiums, and dramatically
expand online access to lottery tickets and simple games of chance. In the
legislature, Mr. Gentner accused the government of seeking to go down the
route of more serious Internet gaming, which currently produces about
$12-billion (U.S.) in revenue worldwide from such activities as online poker
and baccarat. "The [gambling] addiction rate is way, way up. It's coming to
a crisis proportion. . . . How far are you taking us into the field of
Internet gaming?" he asked Solicitor-General John Les, the minister in
charge of gaming in B.C. Mr. Les said there are no plans afoot to market
online gambling. "There will be no Internet gaming conducted by the B.C.
Lottery Corporation. Period. We are absolutely committed to responsible
gaming," Mr. Les declared. The push to boost gambling comes at a time when
public acceptance of the activity is declining. The percentage of those with
a favourable impression of how gaming is conducted in B.C. has dropped to 52
per cent from 58 per cent during the past three years. The lottery
corporation is also faced with what it terms an anticipated "significant
[downward] impact" on revenue when smoking is banned at casinos and bingo
halls next year. There are currently 16 casinos in B.C., one so-called
racino (a race track with slot machines), and 29 bingo sites, five of which
currently contain slots. One of the ways to keep revenue rising, said Mr.
Gass, is not to build more casinos, but to make them bigger, with more
facilities.
However, Richmond's River Rock Casino, the province's largest gambling
resort, with a hotel, theatre, and 1,000 slot machines plus gaming tables,
has been plagued with allegations of criminal activity.

Three kidnappings last year were said by police to have been related to
gambling activities there, several women were assaulted and robbed earlier
this year after leaving the casino with large winnings, and Rong Lilly Li,
last seen in the casino's parking lot, was killed.

"There is zero tolerance for unlawful activity in casinos," Mr. Gass said.
"We co-operate fully with police."