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Ontario to offer online gambling in 2012

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  1. HeLAfAsT HeLAfAsT is offline

    Toronto
    Canada

    Posts: 162
    Joined: Jan 07

    Aug 10th, 2010 (8/10/2010 11:12pm)

    Not sure if this has been posted before, just saw this today....Interesting news for us who live in Ontario.

    Ontario is going offer online gambling in 2012, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan has announced.

    Government officials say that within five years the province could rake in about $100 million a year from online gambling.

    The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. estimates that Canadians spend nearly $1-billion a year at a unregulated gambling sites and want a piece of the action.

    Ontario's cash-strapped government is eager to find new revenue streams to eliminate its massive deficit and fund expensive promises ahead of the 2011 election.

    The gambling site will offer games such as poker, blackjack, pro-line and bingo and OLG chair Paul Godfrey says this website will be trustworthy.

    "Best in class security will be utilized to assure the safety and security of customers, accounts and personal information," said Godfry adding that this will provide gamers with a protected environment, something they are not getting now. "They are (gambling) in an environment that isn't licensed, it isn't regulated. In its current form internet gaming in Ontario does not return proceeds to this province."

    The site will also be designed to track players and recognize problem gamblers.

    However, the opposition is calling the gambling website irresponsible and a desperate money grab.
    The NDP says the McGuinty Liberals are trying to bleed money out of the most vulnerable citizens.

    British Columbia recently launched its online betting operations, and Quebec is expected to follow suit.

    The U.S. is expected to end its four-year ban on Internet gambling this fall.

    The OLG's online gambling site is set to launch in 2012.
  2. kice32 kice32 is offline

    Posts: 864
    Joined: Dec 05

    Aug 10th, 2010 (8/10/2010 11:29pm) in reply to HeLAfAsT

    The scariest thing about the upcoming legislation will be if players from all around the world can't play against each other. Individual nations will be greedy in trying to gain revenue from these sites, but they need to do it without ruining the massive prize pools created by international competition.
    875 
  3. bonflizubi bonflizubi is offline

    Cambridge, MA
    United States

    Posts: 4,520
    Joined: Sep 07

    Aug 10th, 2010 (8/10/2010 11:33pm) in reply to kice32

     
    Originally Posted by kice32 View Post

    The scariest thing about the upcoming legislation will be if players from all around the world can't play against each other. Individual nations will be greedy in trying to gain revenue from these sites, but they need to do it without ruining the massive prize pools created by international competition.

    THat would suck. But hopefully if this kinda stuff happens they figure out how to get together and still get their revenue. Sorta like powerball was one state to start and now has many states..
     
  4. The_Enigma The_Enigma is offline

    Kitchener
    Canada

    Posts: 254
    Joined: Jul 05

    Aug 11th, 2010 (8/11/2010 12:03am) in reply to bonflizubi

    I agree, we already play on any site tax free. This wont go the way of powerball once politics gets involved and it would be unlikely to reach a mutual agreement nationally let alone globally. In Canada, this will only lead to taxation of both sites and players and protectionism of revenue both provincially and nationally.
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