Taking a gamble

It's too late.

The genie escaped the bottle a long time ago.

Gambling is a fact of society - not just in this province but across Canada.

Video lottery terminals are just one aspect.

Each week citizens of this province, and across the country, spend millions of dollars on games of chance.

According to the province's estimates, it will collect $101 million from lotteries this fiscal year.

Some of that revenue comes from the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC), an entity created by the four Atlantic provinces in 1976 that has proven to be lucrative for each of the four governments.

Tickets are currently sold by 5,744 retailers across the Atlantic provinces - according to statistics posted on the Atlantic Lottery Corporation's website - and are available daily at kiosks in shopping malls and corner stores.

In 2008, according to the ALC, Atlantic Canadians spent $998,241 million - nearly a billion dollars - on these lottery tickets.

Yet there appears to be very little hue and cry over the existence of the corner store gambling centres - at least not at the same level as the hue and cry over the government-sanctioned video lottery terminals that are set up in places that, by law, can only be frequented by people over the age of 19.

The video lottery terminal debate is an easy way to call government's morality into question. Opposition parties in every jurisdiction do it all the time.

But are the video lottery terminals more evil than the ALC, or the provincially-run liquor corporation, for that matter?

So why not a debate over the government's control over, and dependence on, wine, beer and other alcoholic spirits?

After all, alcohol is also the root of social problems, is it not? It shows up as a social ill in impaired driving statistics, barroom brawls, abusive relationships, health problems and drunk driving fatalities.

It also rakes in more money for the government than the lottery, at least in this province.

In 2010-11 the province estimates it will collect $132 million from the Newfoundland Liquor Corporation (that's not gross sales, folks, but net revenue).

So do you hear anyone calling for a ban on liquor outlets?

Of course not.

The days of prohibition are over. And if one considers the history of prohibition - how a government-imposed alcohol ban didn't stop alcohol consumption but simply shifted management and control of the supply into the hands of organized crime - one might be willing to concede that it might be best to allow gambling to remain under government control.

We will never see the day that gambling will disappear. Since Romans sat on the sidewalk and rolled the dice, people have been participating in games of chance. It's part of the collective human psyche.

That doesn't mean the debate over gambling should end; just that it should have a more realistic focus.

Instead of trying to attain the impossible - a ban on VLTs, ALCs and other government-sanctioned products - the time would be best spent promoting rules regarding the number of products available, hours of operation and exposure to the general population, and a freeze on new lottery products.

And remain vigilant to ensure the proceeds from gambling go to health and addictions programs.

If you've lived long enough you might recall the same debate we had on cigarettes.

The products are still offered for sale, but they're hidden behind closed doors at the corner stores and it's illegal to advertise the product in Canadian newspapers, periodicals or on TV. You can smoke, but you can't do it in public. And a public education program aims to stop people from starting.

The bottom line is government-controlled and regulated gambling is a better option than the alternative.

Take away the VLTs and ALCs and people will still gamble; they'll just go to the underground world of organized crime and cash transactions - or online gambling - whereby provincial governments won't see a dollar in taxes or profits to help fund any programs.