Gambling addictive to governments

Gambling addictive to governments

I am writing regarding the proposed closing of the slots operation at Fort Erie Racetrack. This has been badly mishandled from the start. The provincial government did not consider the impact on employees, the town of Fort Erie, and the entire Niagara Region when they abruptly announced that within a month the slots and the jobs would be gone.

Even the local Liberal MPP seems to have been left in the dark by his own party. The ongoing controversy and damage done to the hospital system in Niagara is only one part of a seeming total lack of understanding on the part of Premier McGuinty on the damaging effect provincial policy continues to have on our region.

This decision on the slots is the inevitable result of the bad U.S. economy, the thickened border security, increased competition from online gambling and the U.S. casino in Niagara Falls, N.Y., all of which continue to eat away at the government’s slots revenue.

When the first casino was proposed in Niagara Falls, Ont., the Social Planning Council did an extensive study on the effects, both good and bad, casino gambling would have. The City did not want to hear about the bad so coincidentally, the budget for the Social Planning Council was axed from the City’s budget shortly after the report was issued. It was a cost cutting move of course, with no hint of revenge on the part of Casino supporters. Niagara Falls to this day does not have a Social Planning Council. A referendum in which the pro-casino side outspent the anti-gambling side several times over was held and a casino was approved. The rest is history.

One of the findings of the SPC report was that a casino had the potential to become a “black hole” financially, eventually sucking up almost every dollar that would normally be spent on other things.

The problem of addiction increases was also mentioned, with the government promising untold resources to help the unfortunate victims. Lastly, the study pointed out that the revenue stream from gambling would be strong at first but would decrease as other jurisdictions demanded a piece of the pie.

Gambling is addictive not only to those who gamble, it seems, but to governments who promise to hold down taxes while promoting more and more gambling to finance programs.

Richard Murri

Niagara Falls