OLG testing online gaming site

In an effort to get with the times, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is testing out a regulated online gambling site. But with as many as half a million Ontarians suffering from moderate to severe gambling problems, is this a good idea?

In the last ten years, profits from gaming facilities near the U.S. border has dropped almost $900-million and the average on-site gambler is 45 or older. So the OLG started this modernization project to draw younger customers, and it’s a plan that’s getting poor reviews

Soon, Ontario will join provinces like British Columbia and Quebec and launch its own gambling website. With casino profits dropping and on-site gamblers getting older, the OLG had to act fast.

Tony Bitonti, OLG spokesperson: “In an e-commerce world, there are a variety of ages that are playing and we are looking at the customers that are in the e-commerce world.”

Almost half of the online gamblers in Canada are men aged 20-29.

Online gambling isn’t new. Every year, about 500-thousand Ontarians spend about half a billion dollars on off-shore gambling sites. But they aren’t regulated and the OLG want to offer people that — while of course getting a piece of the pie.

Tony Bitonti: “OLG gives about $2-billion to the province each year. That money goes to hospitals, community infrastructure. So why is that money going off-shore when we can keep it here.”

On the flip side, opposition at Queen’s Park see this as the Liberals getting paid, off of those suffering from serious problems.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath: “The Liberals are jumping in with both feet, exactly so that they can gain more revenue out of the pockets, out of those folks who are going to be lured into online gambling.”

Interim PC Leader Jim Wilson: “The government now is preying upon gambling addicts and problem gamblers to fuel their own addiction to over-spending.”

To prevent such over-spending, the OLG is placing several restrictions on its site.

Tony Bitonti: “Mandatory weekly deposit limits, so you need to tell us when you sign on, how much you want to spend per week. And we also have casino loss limits — if you lose a certain amount and you want to tell us that, we’ll stop the play there.”

According to addiction experts, no matter the restriction, it’s extremely difficult to control someone’s problem gambling online.

Carol Cowan, Niagara Community addiction service: “Given the nature of an addiction, the compulsion to play often overrides or supersedes that choice that they have to make to help themselves.”

The OLG is hoping to bring in about $3.1 billion a year by 2017-2018. There’s no word yet how much of that will go towards treatment and prevention of gambling addiction. Currently, only 1% of revenue goes towards those causes.