Rolling the dice

Rolling the dice

Welcome to Ontario, Vegas-style, March 14

My thanks to Tom Walkom for some truth-telling about the folly of Ontario’s soon-to-be privatized gambling casinos and its Toronto expansion plans. I was particularly appalled at his revelation that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) actually says in its strategic plan that “it particularly wants to encourage young people to gamble.”

Apparently the government’s objective is to replace revenues lost through years of tax giveaways to the wealthy by increasingly preying on the poor, the gullible and the addicted.

If it’s simply a matter of grabbing cash, and principles be damned, what can we expect next — a mom and pop heroin shop on every corner with the government taking its cut?

Terry O’Connor, Toronto

First, Duncan wants to bring a street-level Suckers’ Palace to Toronto — the 11th casino in a saturated Ontario market — for an extra $1 billion a year. This is unimaginative for the finance minister in the financial capital of Canada. Should he be fired for not thinking big?

Second, there is a $40 billion solution to Duncan’s woes staring him in the kisser. Why doesn’t he go after it? Toronto already has a $4 trillion suite-level casino called the Foreign Currency Exchange (FX) Market, most of which is speculation. But Duncan is not taking his cut. A small 1 per cent transaction tax would bring in about $40 billion every year — ending the deficit and misguided austerity.

Third, TMX also owns the other multi-trillion dollar suite-level casino in Montreal called the Derivatives Market, where big money bets on the directions (up or down) of prices of financial assets. But again Duncan is not taking his cut. Why not?

Will Barium, Mississauga

The barbarians are at the gates once again with plans for a GTA casino. Let’s complete the “dumbing down” of the city by letting the Ford brothers select the casino site.

What about Hart House or Convocation Hall? They’re old and don’t generate any revenue. There’s always the Reference library site at Bloor and Yonge. Or Christie Pits, High Park, or Sunnybrook Park — lots of unused space there.

I just know they’ll do what’s best for the city.

Ed Shannon, Toronto

The plan announced by the Ontario Lottery Corp. (OLG) that it will modernize gaming in the province, including calls for the creation of new facilities, should be of concern by those concerned with the rising tide of gambling addiction, which is a public health and safety issue/concern across the country.

The Canada Safety Council considers gambling addiction a community safety and crime prevention issue. No one knows exactly how many compulsive gamblers end up taking their own lives in Canada. The council believes the number is likely in to be in the hundreds each year. For every suicide, five gamblers with self-inflicted injuries could end up in hospitals.

Gambling addiction is also linked to a range of other serious personal and social harms such as bankruptcy, family breakup, domestic violence, assault, fraud, theft and even homelessness. Some of these costs can be quantified, including medical care, policing, courts, prisons, social assistance and business losses. But no simple dollar figure can measure the devastation to the lives of those affected by pathological gambling.

As the regulators of their own extremely lucrative gambling operations, provincial and territorial governments find themselves in a glaring conflict of interest. A big challenge will be to eliminate this obvious conflict. They have become more and more reliant on revenues — which amount to billions of dollars each year — from their gambling operations.

A disproportionate amount of these vast revenues are realized from a very small percentage of gamblers. They advertise their casinos, lotteries, and instant wins as a way to get rich and have fun. Yet, these same governments spend insignificant amounts on programs that deal with this addiction.

It is about time governments adopt a public health approach to gambling, not unlike those for smoking and alcohol. Governments that have allowed themselves to become so dependent on gambling income must now risk more of their profits on public health and safety.

And Ontario can and should lead the way as it embarks upon its latest gambling initiatives.

Emile Therien, Past President, Canada Safety Council, Ottawa

OLG changes show there’s more honesty at racetracks than at Queen’s Park,

As one who has spent time as a racetrack employee and a political reporter, I agree with the headline on Dave Perkins’ column. Then again, maybe that’s because you’re more likely to find the front end of a horse at a track than in the legislature.

Paul Park, Ottawa

The Star has reported that the provincial government is considering expanding the number of privately run casinos and privatizing existing government-run casinos. Both aspects of this proposal are ill-advised.

It is a mistake to increase gambling outlets; more families will suffer the impact of gambling on their finances and relationships. It is a mistake to privatize government-run casinos, which will phase out unionized jobs. Already we have lost thousands and thousands of unionized jobs for the middle-class in Ontario.

A government that has to resort to more casinos to increase tax revenues is bereft of sound economic planning. Instead, the province should be protecting our manufacturing jobs. It should be finding ways to expand the number of well-paid unionized jobs in the province.

And, to ensure that any gambling that is done in the province is done responsibly, it should be done in government-run venues. Oversight of lottery ticket sales should continue to be carried out by a government-run lottery corporation.

We do not need more gambling addicts or more money-losing casinos,

Mary Kainer, Toronto

Looking at your gambling graphic on page GT1 Tuesday, one wonders if all the dice will be loaded. I thought the three was always opposite the four, not adjacent as your diagram shows.

Rocky Sankoff, Stouffville

As a one-time blackjack dealer I say scalping more money from your people is a recipe for disaster.

Markus Humby, Burlington

I confess to a “conflict of interest” in this issue: I enjoy going to a casino now and then. Currently, this leaves me with the choice of shlepping up to Casino Rama, or subjecting myself to the traffic on the QEW.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan now promises to relieve me of my problem: by establishing “as quickly as possible,” a fantastic casino right here in the GTA.

This will be of great help to me — and other Torontonians — who enjoy some time at a casino. But it certainly won’t give Mr. Duncan one cent more. In fact, he will get less, since people like me, at the end of our gambling, won’t be patronizing any local restaurants, and won’t be giving him his current gas tax revenue; we’ll just go home.

On the other hand, there is a vast source of “new”, untapped revenue who cannot easily get to existing casinos. It consists of that 20% of GTA who are at or below the poverty line and the 8.6% who are unemployed.

With a casino in Toronto, Mr. Duncan will be able to suck up their pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters at slot machines designed to do exactly that.

Mr. Duncan’s pronouncements boil down to this — a self-serving politician giving us another example of the endless ability of politicians to validate Mark Twain’s observation that, “It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Herb Alexander, Toronto

I find it very interesting that Paul Godfrey and Dwight Duncan can hold a press conference, spew out seemingly (they think) impressive numbers, such as “Overall, the strategy should create 2,300 new jobs and 4,000 service and hospitality sector spinoff positions.” And yet, only one small comment at the very end of their announcement with regards to the loss of slot machines at racetracks: “I am sure in some areas there will continue to be slots at racetracks.”

What about the more than 60,000 people who are tied to the horse racing industry for their livelihood? The cancellation of the OLG Slots at Racetracks Program will eradicate the horse racing industry. Not one mention (by them) of those numbers.

Slots at racetracks have shown to be far more profitable for the government’s coffers than the big casinos already in place. Why, then, are they pushing out these existing areas of profit to push in a “new, world class gaming centre to the GTA” and claiming that it will generate new revenue? They don’t want to share.

Currently they are sharing (80/20) the revenue from racetrack slot machines, and when this program is cancelled, they will retain all of the revenue for themselves. What they don’t seem to grasp is 100 per cent of nothing is nothing. Killing the horse racing industry will kill the revenue from the slots, simple math.

Margaret Chew, Ashburn

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and OLG Chairman Paul Godfrey should be celebrating one of Ontario’s best success stories and not announcing a death knell for the horse-racing industry in Ontario by cutting off their partnership agreement on the slot revenue split at Woodbine.

An agreement struck in 1990 wisely recognized that if you are going to cannibalize an existing gaming industry you should have a plan in place to subsidize it for mutual growth. That’s what responsible governments do.

Horse racing in Ontario is over 100 years old, an industry that has become part of the heritage fabric of this province. The Queen’s Plate will have its 153d running at Woodbine Racetrack this July.

According to Jennifer Morrison’s March 13 article, “government revenues from Ontario horse racing has increased by 27 per cent over the last 10 years. The province collects $261 million a year from the industry, not including OLG profits from slot machines” at Woodbine.

This in itself is a success story of a good partnership between the OLG and the Woodbine Entertainment Group but put this in a North American perspective and you can quickly see that Duncan and Godfrey have missed the opportunity to announce a great Ontario success story. Instead they want to kill their partner.

North American racing has been in a precipitous decline for the last 10 years due to stressful economic factors and competition for the gaming dollar from short-sighted government sponsered gaming programs.

According to The Jockey Club, pari-mutual handle in the United States has dropped for five consecutive years.. In Ontario we have trumped all of North America with consecutive increases.

United States Ontario

2007 - 0.4%

2008 -7.2%

2009 -9.9% +7.0%

2010 -7.3% +8.9%

2011 -5.7% +7.5%

A responsible finance minister should be able to do the math. There are not to many industries in Ontario that can show this kind of growth. But Mr. Duncan wants to put a stop to this success.

Nowithstanding that this growth is filtering down to the 60,000 jobs in Ontario that are attributed to the horse racing industry, notwithstanding that $1.5 billion dollars in wages and salaries are sustained annually by the expenditures of the horse racing industry, notwithstanding that the industry spends over $2 billion dollars per year in Ontario.

Mr. Godfrey clarion call seems to be that the new plan “will create jobs and be a catalyst for economic growth and prosperity. It will generate new revenue and be crucial for tourism.”

What’s wrong with maintaning the old jobs and the growth and prosperity that your partnership with the racetrack industry has achived to date. What’s wrong with supporting Woodbine which is one of the top tourist attractions in Toronto. It has even hosted the Breeders Cup and is the home of several annual top world class horse races.

What’s wrong with generating “new” revenue with the export of Canadian racing to foreign jurisdictions. Over $20 million was wagered on Woodbine races alone from foreign markets in 2011 and this is fledgling market that should be further developed by any responsible government.

The OLG and the Ontario government should be aware that they can’t export their slot machines or lotteries but betting on horse racing is an export product. This is the kind of money that Mr. Duncan and Mr. Godfrey seem to be looking for with their border casinos that are now losing money.

Mr. Godfrey suggests that his new plan will create 2,300 new jobs and 4,000 service spinoff postions. By cutting the slot revenue subsidies to Woodbine he will probably kill many more jobs than that in Ontario’s horseracing industry and endanger one of our best growth industries.

There is something very, very wrong with the present logic of Mr. Duncan and Mr. Godfrey as they can’t seem to see the woods for the trees.

George Yemec, Toronto

I am writing this letter more as an observation of how hypocritical our Premier and his sidekick Dwight Duncan can be. How can they hold themselves out as the protectors of our social fibre and at the same time be so cavalier about putting slot machines on every corner of our province.

Are these not the same outstanding politicians who refuse (in the name of social conscience) to allow changes to our liquor laws to allow the sale of wine and beer in grocery stores or to allow the development of competition and do away with the monopolistic LCBO and Brewers Retail.

I am curious how they reconcile the difference between not allowing more open selling of liquor because they are being socially responsible and the proposed proliferation of gambling throughout the province. Oh wait, could it be money?

It seems as long as they can balance the budget then the source of revenues is irrelevant. Since that’s the obvious reason how about they stop talking about social responsibility. By the way, I’m not against gambling but let’s call this what it really is — greed at the expense of our societal mores.

Carl Beccario, Brampton

The people of the GTA deserve to be consulted before the province inflicts another burden on us in the form of a gambling casino. Besides we already have a place to gamble. It’s called the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Raymond Peringer, Toronto

Dwight Duncan is right: “prohibition doesn’t work.” We learned that about alcohol and we are learning it about gambling. Prohibition not only produces organized crime, bloated law enforcement agencies, unnecessary prisons, but it also deprives our community of needed tax revenues.

Now, to be consistent, will Mr. Duncan please urge the legalization of illicit drugs which, if they are a problem at all, are a medical and not a criminal problem?

Howard A. Doughty, Richmond Hill

Maybe we can put gaming equipment in high school cafeterias — you know hook em earlier. It’s like fishing for sun fish in a bucket, they just can’t help but take the bait, no matter what you serve. Ah the lure of sleazy money.

Richard Kadziewicz, Scarborough

There are plenty of studies and statistics that demonstrate the real social and financial costs of casinos. If Paul Godfrey has paid any attention to what’s been happening in other cities with casinos, we can only assume he’s supporting a cynical cash grab to pretty up the provincial ledgers and his own optics. Let the chips fall where they may.

Karen Brown, Toronto

So Duncan’s solution for years and years of government excessive spending and associated financial scandals is to make gambling available at virtually every corner of the city. Great idea, because those most dreaming to find gold under a rock probably don’t have cars or any other options to easily get to existing gambling locations. Hey, why not use the same rationale and make alcohol, as is the case with cigarettes, within walking distance of the masses. That surely would top up the coffers.

We condone the social pain caused by cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling because the tax dollars can’t be replaced. Now that the ramifications of Liberal abuse of the public purse can be visualized simply by looking across the ocean, what’s the biggest piece of Duncan’s fix? More gambling, but with a promise to study its effects and sugarcoat the increased destruction of lives by offering some funding to help rehabilitate those poor souls whose minds and lives are destroyed.

The only thing that government at every level isn’t considering is something that they should. Controlled legalized distribution of marijuana, the least damaging of all current sin tax items, with the greatest new overall payback for increased revenue, reduced crime, better redirected police resources, and funds to provide some relief for university students drowning in a sea of debt.

Duncan says, “People gamble. Prohibition doesn’t work.” Well I think the majority of Canadians smoke grass too, even if some claim not to inhale.

Morris Greener, Orangeville

Why not install slot machines at checkout counters in supermarkets? Then the poor and underemployed can pull a lever and hope to win enough to cover the cost of their groceries.

M. Prior, Gananoque

I feel only disgust at our government’s decision to pay off debts on the backs of needy families, seniors, the unemployed and those who haven’t figured out their minuscule chances of striking it rich. There are efforts to stop smoking, to reduce the OxyContin addictions, to eat healthier, to alleviate poverty, yet we make gambling seem so appealing, all the time knowing the high social cost. It’s a giant step backwards for our province.

Audrey Little, Stratford

It seems our Premier missed out on one of the great tales of childhood — the one about the Goose That Laid The Golden Egg. The Provincial government has been raking in golden eggs from the slots at racetracks program. Now the Premier plans to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.

For the sake of a meal today he’s determined to kill an industry that is the leader in North America and kill tens of thousands of jobs that would have produced revenue year after year. Not only is he killing the golden goose, but thousands of race horses whose trainers and breeders can no longer afford to feed will go to slaughter.

There’s another tale that our Premier missed out on, Pinocchio. As jobs and horses are destroyed the length of his nose will tell the true tale. Oh and one more lesson from childhood, come the next election the emperor who has no clothes will send the provincial Liberals to Never Never land to join their federal compatriots.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Premier isn’t already hearing the Tick Tock of the clock.

Nancy and Edward Bassis, Chelmsford

“Prohibition doesn’t work.” So says Mr. Duncan. There’s that old bugaboo about Prohibition again. Every time politicians want to change a law or implement a policy that the public is a little skeptical about out comes the reference to prohibition.

In the late 1970s the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Research Council taped an interview with a William Temple — Bible Bill I think Toronto historians call him. Copies were for sale but they never sold one, they did have a Master and that’s the one I viewed.

In the interview Mr. Temple made a statement about the success of Prohibition in Ontario, “Wife and child abuse almost disappeared, there was a significant decline in crime and half the Provincial Police Force was laid off. There was also a significant decline in alcohol related diseases.”

I have related that statement on many occasions, just about to anyone that mentions Prohibition, in print or on TV or Radio. No one has ever responded to me or the statement, to contradict or even ridicule me for having such a silly notion that Prohibition was successful.

Liam Venner, Whitby

Why should slot profits subsidize the “horse industry”? If the horse racing community needs more money to keep their chosen game solvent, simply employ the proven “user pay” formula. Jack up the wagering vigorish.

The nice thing about the gambling business is that the losers pay the lion’s share of the commission — and don’t care what the juice percentage is. Some of the seasoned winners will note the payout adjustments, but the handle will probably remain constant and this form of entertainment can and should be self sufficient.

The Harris government was looking for a convenient partner (at the time) for slot profits. That was then, this is now. All government spending must pass some sort of legitimate litmus test — and this one fails.

Kelly Adams, Orono

The reported savings of the OLG plan to “modernize” gambling — $1.3 billion —is approximately the same that would be saved annually by merging the Ontario public and Catholic school systems. Why create more damage to our social systems when we can raise the same amount of money without the destructive effects on families created by increased opportunities for people to become addicted to gambling?

William Phillips, Toronto

Gee, that’s a swell lot of money from gambling. And if we want real money, let’s get into drugs and prostitution. And we could train the police and licensing agencies to take bribes. If Prohibition doesn’t work, let’s make everything available. And we can ignore our stuffed tiger when he tells us what we are doing.

Constance Moore Gardner, Toronto

More casinos in Ontario and the GTA? Yet another tax on the poor and addicted.

Peter Keleghan, Toronto

Have we taken leave of our senses? How has it come to the point where people believe that transferring money to bureaucrats from people who do not understand math is creating wealth?

Jim Peters, Toronto

Mr. Duncan’s reasoning for presenting more gambling opportunities throughout Ontario is: “people gamble, Prohibition doesn’t work.” Can we then anticipate that the Ontario government will begin stuffing cigarettes into the pockets of potential smokers?

Robert Woodcock, North York

Building a casino in Toronto would be an amazing idea. The biggest tourist attraction in Ottawa isn’t the Parliament buildings, it’s the casino on the Quebec side. It will create thousands of much need jobs in the city, it will add another reason people would want to visit Toronto.

Yes there will be people who will go who shouldn’t be there, but does this mean we should prevent the millions that go and enjoy an evening out at the Casino responsibly?

It will boost tourism, more people are interested in casinos then art. One more point, for all those social engineers who never get anything right, gambling is very accessable to everyone, all you need is a computer and a credit card.

Mark Bonderuk, Toronto

Taxation and users fees in the present political climate seem to be anathema, yet backdoor taxation, especially of the vulnerable and poor, keep expanding in the form of lotteries and casinos. Hospitals regularly use lotteries to raise funds for equipment and research, thus supplementing tax dollars set aside for health care.

The poor are enticed into lotteries with promises of cash for life or big dollar prizes with profits going to offset the provincial deficit. This is very much a means of taxing the middle and lower classes while avoiding increasing taxes across the board so that all pay a fair share for the social benefits afforded those in a democracy.

Isn’t it about time to rethink taxation and to look for fairer and more just ways to tax Ontarians so that our social programs are protected, our deficits decline and monies for the future are preserved at healthy levels?

To continue to use lotteries and casinos as a means of back door taxation is further gambling with the future of Ontario’s economic well being.

The Rev. Donald Shields, Grace Anglican Church, Markham

Dwight Duncan wants to open up the gambling scene with casinos and expanded lottery points of sale, justifying it by saying that prohibition does not work — people gamble. Hopefully he will see his way clear to expand the venues for the sale of alcohol. After all prohibition does not work — people drink.

If I can but a lottery ticket a Costso why not alcohol (like in Quebec). Let’s move to the 21st century.

Ron Willson, Markham

Toronto area casino: Where to put it? In Lake Ontario where it belongs!

There is nothing good to be gained from gambling. Gambling threatens the moral fabric of our society. It leads to increased bankruptcies, crime, gambling addictions, broken families, and increased poverty. It should be totally abolished.

Gambling is a seductive activity, giving out the illusion that one can get rich quick by placing a small wager on the outcome of an unpredictable event. If only it were so simple.

We all know that in the betting shop there are always more “paying in” windows than those that pay out. Unfortunately, it is the very people who can least afford it who plough what little money they have into the coffers of our bookmakers.

As times get harder, desperation grows stronger and the bets become more speculative, resulting in the punter losing even more money. A depressing cycle indeed.

It’s time our politicians stop acting like organized crime czars and start bringing some moral credibility back to our government.

Paul Kokoski, Hamilton

In the addictions field, there are two philosophies: abstinence and harm reduction. Dwight Duncan’s plan isn’t harm reduction; it’s harm production.

Laura Leavens, Mississauga

“Toronto the Good” certainly has changed. But when we do change we may as well do it really good: Bring it into the city at Ontario Place, which sits empty for a good part of the year and that costs money.

We can make room by replacing many of the buildings with hotels with a beautiful view of Lake Ontario. There’s plenty of room for a casino and parking garages — what more do you want?

Move the Exhibition and the Royal Winter Fair to Woodbine. Most of the permanent business showrooms are already near the airport.

Tony ten Kortenaar, Toronto

Your editorial wins the jackpot. As a poker player I would love the convenience of a Toronto casino as it is quite a schlep to regularly travel to Niagara Falls. However,as a citizen, I am very much opposed as it will significantly divert monies away from Ontario’s existing casinos and will be primarily drawing on a local client base.

The Niagara and Windsor casinos were carefully selected so as to largely attract tourist dollars and to a degree still do. A casino in Toronto is, in a nutshell, a seductive but false economy.

Simon Rosenblum, Toronto

If Dwight et al are looking to cure Ontario’s financial ills by making money from past prohibitions, I wonder how long it will be until current prohibitions are reviewed and repealed and we see “People smoke marijuana. Prohibition doesn’t work.” on your cover.

Would that really be such a bad thing? The “positives” far outweigh the “negatives.”

John Burritt, Stouffville

It’s official — the provincial government is hooked on the crack-cocaine of slots. It has effectively declared moral bankruptcy as well as creative-ideas bankruptcy.

So much for family values. Slot machines eat away at the fabric of families. Like lottery tickets, they provide no fun; no social interaction, just false hopes and a steady drain on disposable income.

Slots are “efficient money-makers” and create very few jobs. This is not a business to be encouraged. The government hides behind business speak — competitiveness; updated business model; revenue streams; products.

The fact is that if revenues from slot machines drop, that is a good thing! Sure there will always be gambling but the government should not be actively encouraging it — what a blow to the values and beliefs and aspirations of our youth.

David Waller, Niagara-On-the-Lake

History has a way of repeating itself. At the back end of its historical evolution, “tobacco” is being taken to court in Canada’s largest-ever class-action lawsuit. At the front end of its historical evolution, “casinos” are being promoted for the GTA.

The similarities between the two are astonishing. Both can only offer brief highs, are very addictive, bring in vast revenues for the government but, most astonishing of all, both destroy lives. Will history repeat itself?

George Needles, Scarborough

We live in the “enlightened” year of 2012 and incredibly our provincial Liberal government can only come up with expanded gambling activities and facilities for increasing government revenues (presumably to blow more money on ill-devised and badly-managed health ministry misadventures).

This action is a tell-tale sign of a morally bankrupt government that does not deserve to govern; any government that relies significantly on gambling revenues will eventually perish.

Thank you Mr. McGuinty for making my next provincial voting decision very easy.

Jack De Chiara, Toronto

There was a time when I believed governments had as their objective to better the conditions for their people. That belief took another hit, when the OLG announced that the province and the city have agreed to allow a casino to be built in Toronto.

Rumours have it that the casino will be located at the old Ontario Place. What a testament to the decline of our society, when an originally educational and promotional institution is replaced by a casino.

The OLG trumpeted that the renewal of its business will create 2,300 new jobs. However, no mention was made of how many lives will be ruined by gambling addiction, and what the cost to society will be of that.

Clearly, that is not the concern of the participating governments. I am reminded of the old Tom Lehrer song: “Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down. That’s not my department,” says Wernher von Braun.

Helge Knudsen, Freelton

The OLG’s announcement to locate a new casino in the GTA and to make lottery ticket purchases more widely accessible by rolling out terminals to big box stores , etc. is designed to fill their coffers with another $1.3 billion. But on whose backs? The gambling addicted youths, seniors and the vast majority of gamblers in general whose income levels are far below middle class.

On a visit to Australia some years ago (where the provincial governments also control and regulate gambling) it was noticeable how easily accessible gambling was to people across the country. Looks like we are catching up quickly.

Marty Fruchtman, Toronto