Gambling proceeds filling B.C. coffers- Gaming income to exceed $1-billion

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Globe and Mail (Full article) ROD MICKLEBURGH VANCOUVER --

The province's lottery corporation wants more British Columbians to take up gaming, as the government that once vowed as party policy to halt the growth of gambling in B.C. reaps ever increasing revenue from it. "They are becoming gaming crackheads," NDP Crown corporations critic Guy Gentner charged yesterday, noting that government income from gambling in the province for the coming fiscal year is projected to soar to more than $1-billion for the first time. By 2009-2010, the B.C. Lottery Corp. (BCLC) plans to swell government coffers by $1.142-billion from gambling proceeds, a three-year increase of 15 per cent and more than double what the province earned from gaming when the Liberals came to power with their anti-gambling rhetoric in 2001. The government-owned Lottery Corp. is also out to increase public participation in legal gambling, including lottery ticket purchases, to 68 per cent of the adult population from 65 per cent over the next three years.

The lottery corporation's recently released, three-year service plan unveils an ambitious agenda to turn existing casinos into lavish, multipurpose facilities such as the River Rock casino in Richmond, increase the number of slot machines in once-dowdy bingo emporiums, and dramatically expand online access to lottery tickets and simple games of chance.
In the legislature, Mr. Gentner accused the government of seeking to go down the route of more serious Internet gaming, which currently produces about $12-billion (U.S.) in revenue worldwide from such activities as online poker and baccarat.

Since Premier Gordon Campbell pledged during the 2001 election campaign to "stop the expansion of gambling that has increased gambling addiction and put new strains on families," the number of slot machines in B.C. has tripled.