....ruins lives and destroys families

Casino will come to Toronto
As long as governments are dependent on gambling, close your eyes, because it’s not going away
By Connie Woodcock ,Toronto Sun

If it were up to me, there would be no more casinos opened in Ontario and we wouldn’t be loosening the rules for online gambling.

I’d shut down the Windsor casino that has made less and less money since Detroit opened its own and the Americans needed passports to cross the border. I’d leave gambling strictly to Niagara Falls and a few First Nations.

I don’t care how much money Ontario rakes in from casinos — nearly $2 billion a year. It’s too dangerous a pastime to encourage. For too many, it ruins lives and destroys families.

Sixty per cent of us gamble and 3.4% of those are problem gamblers.

All it does is give governments an easy way to pick their citizens’ pockets.

I’m not alone in this. A recent poll showed that in Toronto alone, 50% of the population is against a casino in the city. Only 35% were in favour in the Forum Research poll while 15% had no opinion. Researchers claim that over the years more and more Canadians have become anti-gambling as we become more and more aware of the negatives involved.

For one thing, Ontario is about to dive into online gambling by letting you buy lottery tickets online and place bets from your iPhone or your computer.

For another, both Ontario and the city are desperate for new money-raising options.

There’s an Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission report due soon that is reportedly going to recommend a Toronto casino as a way of helping to erase the provincial deficit.

And what a coincidence. Toronto just happens to have two perfect casino sites — one at Woodbine Racetrack where the slot machines reportedly jingle as merrily as anywhere in the world and one at Ontario Place, which the government has just shut down for five years as it searches for ways to redevelop the site.

Turn Ontario Place into an adults-only entertainment centre?

Ontario Place has always been a tough sell. Even before it opened back in 1971, there were plenty of critics claiming it would never fly — and really, it never did, not in the way its builders expected. Facing hard times, the province got sick of losing $20 million a year on it.

There was never enough to do or see, the food and drinks were pricey and seldom up to par in a city loaded with good restaurants. And there never was an easy way of getting there.

It was supposed to be a jewel, a family place that would showcase Ontario. Instead it became another mistake by the lake.

Putting a casino there might finally make it go, but does Toronto really want to send that message? Turn some of its finest waterfront into an entertainment venue dedicated to emptying the pockets of every visitor?

Does Ontario want that? Visit us. Bring cash. Leave the kids at home.

And of course, tourists aren’t the OLG’s main target. They want to make it easier for more Torontonians to gamble. No more buses to Niagara Falls. You can spend the savings on the slots.

The best place for a Toronto casino has to be Woodbine Racetrack, where betting and slots are already available and where a billion-dollar redevelopment plan will put all kinds of entertainment, retail and recreational activities in one place.

A casino would be a natural centrepiece — and for those of us who think casinos are eyesores, it would have the extra benefit of confining all the gamblers to one not-very-visible part of the city.

Out of sight — and out of mind. As long as governments are dependent on gambling, you have to close your eyes because it’s not going away.