B.C. not addicted to gambling revenues: minister

B.C.'s minister responsible for gaming says the province is not addicted to gambling revenues.

The province rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars from gambling revenues each year, and the amount keeps rising.

Lotteries, bingo and other games are expected to bring in $950 million this year. Within the next two years, the government expects gaming to generate more than $1 billion for provincial coffers.

John Les, the minister responsible for gambling, says that despite the huge gaming revenue, he doesn't think the province is addicted to the revenue.

"The fact is if we didn't have gaming revenue today our budget would still be balanced," Les said.

B.C.'s Lottery Corporation continues to expand the gambling business in the province. Earlier this week, it announced that people can now buy lottery tickets online.

It's an about-face for a government party that promised to stop gambling expansion when it formed the opposition in the provincial legislature. In 1998, Gordon Campbell said the social costs of gambling were too high to pay.

• FROM NOV. 19, 2004: B.C. Liberals have expanded gambling, says minister

Despite the increase in gaming, the government says it's doing enough to help people addicted to gambling.

According to the government's own research, there are about 150,000 problem gamblers in the province. Despite that number, officials say they're putting ample resources into treatment and prevention programs.

Les said B.C. is determined not to end up like the Atlantic provinces, with social problems related to video lottery terminals.

"If we're not proactive, there is a possibility that problem gambling becomes a serious problem," he said. "We don't want that to be happening in B.C."

Even with the expansion of gaming opportunities, Les said the number of problem gamblers is not increasing.

He credits the safeguards B.C. has put in place such as banning VLTs and restricting slot machines to casinos. As well, he said, $4 million goes to prevention and treatment programs each year for things like free counselling.

"We are finding that about 98 per cent of the people who make use of that service are reporting either very good or excellent results," Les says.

Still, B.C. appears to be doing less than other provinces.

A study by the Canada West Foundation found that B.C. spends about $23 to treat every problem gambler. In Quebec, that amount is $91.

Les said B.C. will spend more if the need arises.