Nova Scotia Decides No Online Gambling

October 22, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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It was fairly clear that the Canadian province, Nova Scotia, was not interested in allowing online gambling in their province. The premier of Nova Scotia, Darrell Dexter, recently announced the province's final decision regarding online gambling at this time.

Mr. Dexter explained the decision, noting that it is simply consistent with how Nova Scotia feels about gambling, and not specifically online gambling. The province has already tried to reduce all forms of gambling, since they wish to reduce the harm that they feel can be caused by gambling of any type. He further noted that before the final decision was made, experts in the area of gambling, and members of the public were spoken to.

Graham Steele, the finance minister of Nova Scotia, had initially thought he may support online gambling, however, he apparently changed his mind once he had read some research regarding online gambling.

Mr. Steele said: "The thing that struck me was the idea that if we participated in online gambling we would get people into gambling who otherwise wouldn't."

He also noted that nobody really knows how much revenue online gambling would bring into Nova Scotia. He said: "Any estimate of how much revenue was simply a wild guess. Nobody really has any idea how much revenue was available."

Nova Scotia has been working on a proposed gambling strategy, which is due out towards the end of this year, or in early 2011. One wonders why Mr. Dexter announced that there would be no online gambling before the proposal has been completed. He said: "There are consultations going on through the lottery corporation and we just felt in order to clear up any ambiguity with the direction the government is going in people should know that this [online gaming] is not going to be considered."

At this time, Nova Scotia is not banning online gambling, but simply not encouraging more online gambling. The chief executive officer of the Nova Scotia Gaming Corp., Marie Mullally, noted that whether the government is involved or not, there will still be Internet access to online gambling, especially via cellphones.

Mr. Dexter commented that there is not much that his government can do about online gambling websites from other jurisdictions. He said: "The reality is there are online gaming sites everywhere there is a computer."

Other Canadian provinces are welcoming online gambling with open arms, such as British Columbia, which already has its own online gambling website. Both Ontario and Quebec have plans to launch their own online gaming websites. Prince Edward Island, has not yet made a final decision on the issue.