Nova Scotia Says No to Online Gambling

British Columbia was the first to launch a legal online gambling site in North America with their playnow.com site. Ontario and Quebec are also getting ready to follow B.C.’s footsteps. If you remember, Nova Scotia, was right on the heels of this online gambling bandwagon.

Back in late August, Finance Minister Graham Steele said it was time that Nova Scotia had its own online gambling for the good of the people. He said that he needed to protect addicts who had access to unregulated offshore sites.

“They don’t care if somebody’s got a problem. They don’t care that the money is leaving Nova Scotia. There are no ‘problem gambling’ resources,” he said.

Let’s flash forward to today and there seem to have been another change in heart. Premier Darrell Dexter says there will not be online gambling in Nova Scotia. Why doesn’t Nova Scotia need online gambling now; for the good of the people. According to Dexter,

“We don’t think it’s consistent with our goal to try to reduce the harm that is done by gaming.”

Surely just two months after the finance minister announced it was necessary for Nova Scotia to have online gambling that this will stir up some controversy. Not exactly, Graham Steele has also said today he has changed his mind after reading the latest research and is now worried that a government run site may introduce gambling to people who otherwise would not have participated.

All good points, but since all of this is being debated for the “good of the people” and since there is still “unregulated offshore sites” out there, wouldn’t it be a good idea if the people had a voice?

Author: GamesAndCasino