Ontario Premier Says Regulated Online Poker is Inevitable
Written by Matt W | Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Now that Quebec has taken the first step towards a regulated online poker industry, there is no stopping other Canadian provinces who will also be seeking a slice of the potential millions to be had out of the industry. The thought that Quebec will benefit from the $50 million pie all on its own must have been too much for Ontario Premier, Dalton McGuinty to stomach and he hinted this week that his province may also be heading for changes to its current poker and gambling laws.
McGuinty said that internet gambling is a reality in this day and age and his government cannot simply ignore this fact as a policy for much longer. “The issue is whether or not we should be involved in that, and I think we’re going to have to make a call,” he said. “It’s something we can’t avoid.”
McGuinty was realistic about the government’s ability to block online gambling. With over 2,000 poker and gambling sites at Canadian’s fingertips, there is not much that can be done other than benefit from the situation. “We can control whether or not there are corner-store sales for beer and wine, but Internet gambling is taking place. The issue is what do we want to do in the face of that,” said the wise premier.
Naturally there are others who share these thoughts, including the recently sworn in chairman of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming corporation, Paul Godfrey.
Godfrey said that Ontario should get into the action before other provinces do, and that the province should do all it can to channel money spent that is currently going to offshore sites.
A McGill University speaker, Jeff Deverensky said that the provincial governments had done their studies and said that “if they can recoup a slice of it, then that money could be better used in government run programs.”
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· Written by Matt W · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
