Chase the Ace doesn't need to be fixed by government, says Graham Steele

After conquering Cape Breton, Chase the Ace invaded Province House this week.

The hugely popular draw first took off in Inverness late last year.

Now the latest round is sponsored by the Ashby Legion and the Horizon Achievement Centre. The amounts being raised are likely beyond those worthy organizations' wildest dreams.

The lineup for tickets at Sydney's Mayflower Mall last week reportedly stretched from one end of the mall to the other.

Wherever you find a crowd, especially one where people are enjoying themselves, politicians will be close behind.

And so it was at the legislature on Wednesday, when Progressive Conservative MLAEddie Orrell rose to speak on the weightiest of public policy issues: the future of Chase the Ace.

Opposition strategy

The key to the success of Chase the Ace seems to be the large and rapidly rising jackpot.

Chase the Ace is nothing more than a fancy 50-50 draw, that staple of legion halls and hockey rinks since time immemorial.The only difference is that the weekly winner gets a smaller share of the prize pool, plus a chance to draw for the jackpot.

Orrell asked the government if they had plans to cap the jackpot.He spoke darkly of "behind-the-scenes pressure" from "gaming lobbyists or others."

If the Progressive Conservatives can get people to believe that the McNeil government will kill the fun, all those happy people will be mad at the Liberals or so goes the political reasoning.

Government response

Mark Furey responded for the government. His ministerial portfolios are many and varied, but the hat he was wearing this time was the minister for raffles, drawsand silent auctions.

Furey didn't actually answer Orrell's questions this is politics after all, and rookie ministers like Furey quickly absorb the art of obfuscation but he repeated the phrases "public safety" and "integrity of the game" several times.

That was all the opening Orrell needed. He fired off a news release, warning his fellow Nova Scotians that the McNeil government "refused to rule out putting a cap on Chase the Ace jackpots."

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your legislature in action.

Furey looks like a guy who would shut down your party

The government's problem is that Orrell is right.Furey had the chance to stop the whole line of questioning in its tracks, and didn't.

It doesn't help that Furey is a police officer by professionand looks very much like the sort of fellow who would shut down your party.

He was also quite evidently reading from prepared notes, so those key phrases "public safety" and "integrity of the game" were carefully considered. Yes, they're thinking about it.

Furey did say that the government has not received pressure from anybody.I believe him, but not just because he's a nice guy.

Biggest loser?

I believe him because the biggest financial loser from Chase the Ace is almost certainly the government itself.Who needs lobbyists?

The government is counting on all forms of gambling to generate $128 million of revenue this year.

I suspect most of the spending on Chase the Ace is coming from a sharp reduction in the purchase of official Atlantic Lottery Corporation lotteries and video lottery terminals.

The ALC is a sophisticated organization that likely knows precisely what impact Chase the Ace is having on its sales, but it's not known for being forthcoming with operational information.

The reason that the Chase the Ace jackpot can grow so quickly is precisely because the government is not taking its usual large cut.

The jackpot grows, the money stays in the community, and everybody comes out a winner except the government, which is, after all, only trying to pay for $10 billion worth of public services.

So what's a government to do?

There's a temptation in government to try to fix every problem that comes along.The result is a sprawling government that barely manages to regulate what it's regulating and that creates lots of unintended consequences.

The longer I was in government, the more convinced I became that government should figure out what its core responsibilities are, do them excellently, and leave the rest alone.

Chase the Ace doesn't need a fix. Mark Furey should butt out, give Eddie Orrell a straight answer, and send someone out to buy some tickets.