The illusion of protection

Scratch the surface and problems appear
April 22, 2012 - By RACHEL BRIGHTON Just Business


Disclosure: I am an investor in Techlink International Enter­tainment Ltd ., a homegrown Nova Scotia gambling products company whose off-the-chart growth is being buoyed by world­wide demand for “responsible gaming" technology.

I am not a conventional share­holder, however — just a taxpay­er whose shares are being held in trust by the provincial govern­ment, which has been buying up this privately held entertainment stock.

Nova Scotia Business Inc., the government’s investment agency, has issued a new $6-million loan to the Cape Breton company and has converted $5.5 million in previous loans into shares.

The timing of the deal will help Techlink Entertainment, as the company is known, complete a $21-million order.

Company spokeswoman Deb MacPherson would not say whether the contract was for its new ergonomically designed, multi-platform gaming terminal named Blast, which it has been promoting, or for its user-inter­face tools that allow VLT players to track their gaming habits and set limits.

A card-based version of this system called My-Play became mandatory in Nova Scotia this month.

Financially, there is no down­side to investing in this company, as far as I can see.

I get to increase my exposure to the global gaming market, which by some industry estim­ates has surpassed $1 trillion.

And I can ease my conscience at the same time, thanks to the company’s responsible-gaming technology that is intended to mitigate the social costs of gambling.

But scratch the surface and problems appear.

Techlink’s responsible-gaming tools require players to establish individual accounts. The com­pany is capitalizing on this by selling data-based surveillance systems that can aggregate data from various gambling platforms to generate what it calls “a 360-degree view" of players’ behaviour.

The company is also marketing its responsible-gaming platform as a way for operators to deliver tailored advertisements and special offers to gamblers while they play.

In Nova Scotia, the My-Play system that Techlink designed requires gamblers to use a card that regulates their access to VLTs and can track and limit their gambling.

But a health official claims the system’s potential is limited by the choices given to gamblers when they obtain their mandatory card.

There are two levels of control — full and light — that give gamblers more or less freedom. The “full" option requires identification from players before a card is issued, while the “light" option does not.

Audrey Shields, a clinical therapist with addiction services at Annapolis Valley Health, says the “light" option will allow gambling addicts to avoid their self-im­posed limits and erase their gambling records at will by repeatedly replacing their cards.

“I could have 10 cards," explained Shields, who said her clients want and need the stricter level of control to help them break their addiction.

Would this system, as it stands, have saved disgraced politician Dave Wilson from his tragic gambling addiction? Will it help others? Either way, we have hedged our bets by investing in a company whose technology appears to do as much to stim­ulate gambling as to curb it.