Canadian land gambling under threat
The head of the Canadian Gambling Association has accused online gambling of sucking money out of the established Canadian gaming industry.
Speaking in Vancouver at the associations’ national conference, Bull Rutsey claimed that online casino’s are effectively costing the Canadian economy some $500 million and pose the single most real threat to Canada’s land based gaming industry.
In the past five years online gambling has grown from a $5 billion business to a $13-$14 billion industry.
Online Casinos.com quoted Mr Rutsey saying: “Millions just disappear – the money is sucked right out of the economy.”
“Internet gaming is a real competitive threat, and law enforcement needs to take steps to deal with the issue. It seems to be a case of benign neglect at this point.”
Rutsey also claimed that rather than provincial governments benefiting from their share of the $7 billion laid in bets in online casinos last year, profits are instead passing into the hands of organised criminals and private companies.