Sunday, May 13, 2007

Gambling trap snares MLA, addicts and government

Victoria Times Colonist (Full Article)

But last month Australia's biggest gambling operator and a bank based there combined to buy Gateway Casinos, which has seven casinos in B.C. An Australian paper reported the bank liked the opportunity because B.C. was one of the only places in the world that offered casino operators a "free ride." "A very nice kicker to this whole transaction is a dynamic that has been set up at the government level, whereby any capital expenditure you spend on your casinos is refunded by the government," a bank spokesman said."So there is, specific to this region of the world, a very attractive environment for a casino operator." Casinos that want to upgrade to capture more of gamblers' money usually pay the costs. In B.C., taxpayers take the hit.

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