Welcome to Gambling Watch Global Community Blog,
a source for latest news, developments and reputable documentation and research on gambling. You'll find many helpful resources and links for anti-gambling advocates.
8/11/2008: Volume 10 Issue 002 CWE August 11 2008
Addiction
‘An addict in the family - Don’t come into this house again’ is an item in the 8/6 Victoria Times Colonist that contains a wise suggestion to get an addict to find a way out. We quote: ‘It is one of the hardest decisions a parent could ever make. A child is addicted to drugs or alcohol, and refuses to get help. For some parents, the only answer is to tell the child to get treatment or leave the house’. Question: Would it also work for gambling?
‘Compulsive Gamblers Guilt Affects Their Gambling Addiction Recovery’, an item in the 8/6 WordPress Planet, says that feeling guilty is one of the toughest areas to resolve for some people. We quote: ‘When a gambler finally makes the conscious decision to stop gambling, reality sets in for the first time in a long time. When they finally take stock in themselves they see all the damage they caused. Some people stop right before it’s too late and they have a few assets left. Then the compulsive gamblers think they’re in control and once again go back to gambling. The next time the destruction is twice as worse. The feelings of guilt increase until they finally are willing to face they have a gambling problem.’
‘111 Tips to Help Beat Your Gambling Addiction Problem to be Released Online Next Month’ is a sentence in a Press Release in an 8/10 Florida publication by Michelle Tee, 561-985-7743, michelletee08@gmail.com, www.gamblingaddiction.tv.
Finance
‘Magna Entertainment’s debt woes worsen’ an 8/7 TorStar report, tells that the racetrack and gambling company won’t keep earlier pledges to eliminate its heavy debt load by the end of the year and may never do so. Will that influence its horseracing promotion?
Cyber
‘Bipartisan Agreement UIGEA Gambling Ban Must Go’ is an 8/5 Washington article on the US political stand on Internet Gambling. The real question is: ‘Should the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act be changed?’
Lottery
Articles like ‘Lottery jackpot a whopping $43M’ caused line-ups at many lottery counters in this week and long reports on wins. Here’s what we read in the 8/9 TorSun: ‘”It’s too bad,” said Laura Brown, the 19-year-old part-time office employee at Bray Motors in Sundridge, where 25 members of the staff are going to split the winnings with each employee taking home $900,000. “But I wasn’t in on it.” And you know what that means. She did not chip in on the ticket. You have got to be in if you want to share in the win.
The same paper says that the other half of the winning $90M jackpot was sold in Quebec.
Horseracing
‘Seventeen horses entered in Gold Cup and Saucer’ is an 8/5 Amherst Daily News article on the 49th edition of Sobeys with trials set for Saturday night and Monday night, each carrying a purse of $12,500 at Charlottetown Driving Park Entertainment Centre.
Crime
‘Beyond crime and punishment’ an 8/7 article in the National Post, expresses the opinion that our country falls short in treating and/or curing chronic legal offenders.
Sport
‘French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt was banned from the men’s tour for two months and fined US$12,000 Friday after being found guilty of betting on matches’ is the first line of an AP article in the 8/8 Toronto Sun.
British Columbia
‘Brothers jailed for US fraud’, an 8/5 article in The Province, reports that two men from Vancouver have been sentenced south of the border for running a large-scale fraud operation that victimized mainly elderly U.S. residents by telling them they won, or had an excellent chance of winning, a foreign lottery. Even lotteries cause fraud crimes!
‘Casino Slot Patron Calls Police to Refund His Money’, an 8/5 Casino Advisory item, reports that this call brought the ‘patron’ legal problems. We agree with his action; slot machines are purposely programmed by mobster minded governments to cause users to lose money! If the police were not protecting the government, it would have ‘arrested’ the slot machine and/or the operators of it!!!
‘Long-time pub worker sees effects of gambling’ is an article in the 8/6 Times Colonist that states clearly that the provincial government has no interest in reducing gambling or any of its ill affects. It has a real mobster attitude!
Alberta
‘Problem gamblers bet on toothless exclusion rules’, an 8/7 Calgary Herald story, reports that the system to keep addicts out of casinos isn’t working.
Saskatoon
‘Money missing at Casino Regina’, an item in the 8/6 papers says: ‘The Saskatchewan Gaming Corp. reported losses of nearly $11,500 during the July 2007 to May 2008 period, which has resulted in one employee being fired. An individual has since been charged with theft and the matter is still before the courts, the government reported.”
Manitoba
‘Gambling winner assaulted, robbed’ – another way in which gambling causes crime! – is a tale in the 8/7 Winnipeg Sun. A quote: ‘A local man was on a winning streak, winning at VLTs in a downtown bar. But his luck changed when he went to use the washroom. He was jumped from behind, viciously assaulted and robbed of a large amount of cash’.
‘Most adult Manitobans gamble’, a CBC item of the same date, states that the number of “moderate risk” gamblers has doubled over the last five years, according to a new study by the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.
‘Shuffle down the card table guys, more and more women are joining you to gamble’, an 8/8 Winnipeg Sun article, reports that the increase in gambling interest among Manitoba women has emerged as the province’s overall “problem” gaming rate of 1.4% remains slightly above the Canadian provincial average.
Ontario
‘The doors of OLG Casino Brantford reopened Saturday at noon to hundreds of eager bettors, who had been deprived of their activities during a two-month strike by casino workers,’ is the first sentence of an item reporting the re-opening of the Brantford casino. It makes me wonder how many of those hundreds of people are gambling addicts!
‘With coins gone casinos have lost their excitement’ is the title of a Letter to the Editor in the 8/5 Windsor Star. We quote: ‘My wife and I were frequent visitors to the casinos in Windsor since the interim one opened in the Art Gallery of Windsor site years ago. The reason we quit going is simple. We were drawn to the excitement of bells going off, coins dropping and people yelling when they hit the jackpot, etc. This was great. Whether we won or lost, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. That’s all gone now. Since they got rid of the coins and replaced them with paper receipts, the action has ceased, the excitement is gone and the whole atmosphere has changed completely. It’s boring and not exciting anymore. No yelling or screaming when someone wins, hardly a bell, etc.’
New Brunswick
‘NB will need to beef up police when new casino opens – RCMP’ is the title of a CP item in the 31/7 Amherst Daily News. The police know the truth: ‘a casinos draws crimes’!
Nova Scotia
‘Halifax casino fined 75,000’ is an article in the 8/4 Halifax Herald. It reports that the Halifax casino was fined for four violations of provincial regulations; one of them was employing a dealer rejected by the province. The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board is sharply critical of the Metropolitan Entertainment Group and its parent company, Great Canadian Gaming Corp.
J. Deviet