27-Nov-06. Natives get upper hand, say casinos. National Post, A1.

Alberta’s first native casino, the River Cree Resort and Casino, is located just west of the Edmonton city limits. Competing hospitality operators claim that the province has created a fierce competitor for them because of the advantageous gambling licencing terms of Alberta’s First Nations Gaming Policy. Unlike traditional casinos in the province, most slot money and all table-game income at first nations casinos stays on the reserve.

24-Nov-06. Problem gamblers suing N.S. over gaming losses. Lethbridge Herald, A9.

A man who claims he lost $500,000 at a Nova Scotia casino says he’s set to sue the province for negligence. The former coal miner claims he was never approached by staff at Casino Nova Scotia in Sydney, even though provincial law requires them to bar problem gamblers. The suit would name the Nova Scotia Gaming Corp., the province’s attorney general, and others.

24-Nov-06. AADAC bilked by gambler. Edmonton Sun, 9.

Between January 2004 and September of this year, former senior civil servant Lloyd Carr pilfered $634,000 from the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission, using most of the money to support his gambling addiction, the province’s auditor general found in a new report.

24-Nov-06. Auditor reveals massive fraud at AADAC. Calgary Herald, A1.

Alberta’s auditor general released a report Thursday documenting fraudulent activity in government, including the case of a senior bureaucrat with the anti-addictions unit stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund his own gambling problem. Fred Dunn noted that shoddy monitoring and contracting practices at the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission allowed a senior employee, Lloyd Carr, to divert $634,250 through false contracts to himself and other parties.

24-Nov-06. Massive scam revealed. Calgary Sun, 5.

A report by Alberta Auditor General Fred Dunn identifies Lloyd Carr as having set up five fraudulent contracts worth $634,250. Carr, a former employee of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission, reportedly took $91,000 for a down payment on a new house, $60,000 for a vehicle loan repayment, and withdrew $156,000 in cash from ATMs in casinos. Carr admits he has a gambling problem.

24-Nov-06. Anti-smoking money funded gambling habit. National Post, A13.

Alberta’s Auditor General Fred Dunn reported yesterday that a former senior bureaucrat with the province’s anti-addictions agency created $634,000 in false contracts to spend most of it on his own gambling. Lloyd Carr, former executive director of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission’s tobacco-reduction unit, told the auditors he had a gambling problem.

23-Nov-06. New lottery suspicions are raised. National Post, A12.

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. president Duncan Brown is downplaying the latest news report that suggests retail insiders such as store clerks are winning a disproportionate number of prizes on scratch-and-win games. Mr. Brown was responding to a report on CBC’s The Fifth Estate that suggested retailers have been winning as many as 10 per cent of the major prizes available.

22-Nov-06. Lottery retailers’ wins tied to extra purchases of instant tickets. Globe and Mail, A7.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. says that retailers appear to win a disproportionate number of instant-scratch ticket prizes because they purchase more lottery tickets on average that the general public. A recent survey of ticket retailers conducted by Decima Research concluded that they spend approximately twice as much on lotteries as do members of the public. The research was commissioned in response to the CBC-TV program “The Fifth Estate” which reported last month on the overall number of insider wins in Ontario in the past six years. Ontario is the only lottery corporation in Canada that tracks insider wins and investigates any win by an insider of $50,000 or more.

22-Nov-06. Clerks winning lots of scratch-and-win lotteries: CBC. Lethbridge Herald, A15.

CBC-TV’s “The National” reports one in ten Ontario scratch-and-win lottery prizes were claimed by a clerk. The CBC quotes internal lottery documents obtained by the “Fifth Estate” detailing how clerks could lightly scratch a ticket with a pin to determine if it was a winner. Toronto statistician Mohan Srivastava also found a way to decode which tickets were winners.

22-Nov-06. Gamblers get help through South Country. Lethbridge Herald, A4.

The South Country Treatment Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta was launched a decade ago and remains the only residential program for gambling addicts in the southern half of the province. Though gambling problems may affect a significant number of individuals, waiting lists for the three-week gambling program are short. South Country operates a 21-bed facility near the Lethbridge Research Centre, under contract with the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC).

22-Nov-06. OLGC fraud extends to scratch-and-win tickets, TV news show expected to report today. National Post, A15.

The CBC-TV investigative program The Fifth Estate is expected to report today that the Ontario’s scratch-and-win lottery games are plagued by a similar type of insider fraud as the province’s weekly lottery. The show will report that store employees account for as many as 10 per cent of instant-win tickets.

17-Oct-06. Smoking bans cause short-term pain for casinos. Red Deer Advocate, C4.

A panel of experts at a conference in Las Vegas told attendees that smoking bans are reducing casino revenue, but more marketing and investment can lure customers back. A smoking ban imposed in May in public places in the Province of Ontario contributed to a revenue drop of 10 to 20 per cent for border casinos. A similar smoking ban at three Delaware racinos also had a similar negative impact on slot machine revenue according to Richard Thalheimer.

21-Nov-06. Gambling addiction off radar. Edmonton Sun, 11.

The author of this column notes that gambling has become less of a contentious issue in Alberta but that the effects of problem gambling on individuals remain high. Robert Williams of the Alberta Gaming Research Institute has found that the total number of gaming machines per capita in a jurisdiction is one of the best predictors of problem gambling prevalence.

19-Nov-06. Casino is smokin'!. Edmonton Sun, 16.

This editorial column concerns the ban on smoking in casinos located in the City of Edmonton. The River Cree Resort and Casino on Enoch Cree reserve land is not subject to restrictions on smoking and has attracted smokers to the facility. The columnist says that there was plenty of evidence that the city's July 2005 smoking ban bylaw would negatively impact business.

19-Nov-06. Bars don't buy Hancock on VLTs. Edmonton Sun, 11.

Keith Frederickson, general manager for Jox Sports Bar and Grill in Edmonton says video lottery terminals (VLTs) are a definite draw and getting rid of them would result in lost revenues. He was resonding to comments made Friday by Alberta Tory leadership candidate Dave Hancock. Hancock told supporters the province should not be funding itself through gambling revenue.

18-Nov-06. Get VLTs - 'worst tax' - out of bars: Hancock. Edmonton Sun, 30.

Alberta Tory leadership candidate Dave Hancock says he wants to get video lottery terminals (VLTs) out of neighbourhood bars. He says that casinos are the most appropriate place to locate the machines.

19-Nov-06. Graham Hicks: They love gambling. Edmonton Sun, 6.

This brief item indicates that the Century Casino on Fort Road in northeast Edmonton was packed on Friday for the first day of its opening. The author of this column also states that he is concerned that the growing number of casinos may be lowering the moral standards of society. He notes that the government is addicted to the over $1-billion in revenues produced by gambling in the Province of Alberta.

16-Nov-06. Charges laid in Internet gambling operation. Edmonton Sun, 34.

Criminal charges have been brought against more than two dozen people and corporations in four U.S. states in connection with a billion-dollar-a-year gambling web site. A spokesperson for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the arrests by the DA’s office and the New York Police Department represent the first time that Internet gambling charges have been brought since President George W. Bush signed into law last month the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

15-Nov-06. Graham Hicks: Roll out casinos. Edmonton Sun, 6.

This Friday will be the “soft opening” of the $35.8-million Century Casino on Fort Road in northeast Edmonton. The facility is the old Fort Hotel and Celebrations Dinner Theatre, bought two years ago by the 37-casino owner-cruise line operator Century Casinos of Vienna, Austria. The facility, which also includes a hotel, restaurants, and dinner theatre, will have its grand opening a week from this coming Friday.

15-Nov-06. Lottery probe launched. Edmonton Sun, 28.

This newsbrief reports that suspicions about the possible mishandling of winning lottery tickets by some retailers in Atlantic Canada have prompted a probe by the Atlantic Lottery Corp. The corporation received the complaints after a recent program on CBC-TV’s The Fifth Estate about lottery fraud involving retailers in Ontario.

14-Nov-06. Gambling on a hot streak. National Post, FP1.

The Global Gaming Expo is an annual casino industry convention and trade show that is taking place this week in Las Vegas. This article reports that U.S. gambling companies are celebrating an extremely profitable year due to rising hotel room rates, increased non-gambling sales, and brisk levels of play. Domestic and international expansion plans unveiled by companies such as MGM Mirage are among the most ambitious yet.

10-Nov-06. The house always wins. Calgary Sun, 52.

McGill University researcher Alissa Sklar says teen gambling has become a huge problem over the past five or six years. The university’s International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High Risk Behaviors has set up a new website http://www.gamtalk4teens.org/ that offers teens a chance to chat anonymously with trained counsellors about how to help themselves or their friends with gambling problems. Research studies reveal 70 per cent of underage youth – those under 18 – report gambling of some kind in the last year.

10-Nov-06. Lottery beefs emerge. Calgary Sun, 29.

Ontario’s ombudsman has received 300 complaints from lottery players who say they’ve been cheated of their winnings since the provincial watchdog launched its probe two weeks ago into the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. The investigation opened following allegations in a recent CBC report that lottery retailers were coming up winners in disproportionate numbers.

10-Nov-06. Teens betting high stakes. Edmonton Sun, 67.

McGill University researcher Alissa Sklar says teen gambling has become a huge problem over the past five or six years. She pointed to the increased incidence of gambling on television, and cited ESPN’s sports poker as an example. The university’s International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High Risk Behaviors has set up a new website www.gamtalk4teens.org that offers teens a chance to chat anonymously with trained counsellors about how to help themselves or their friends with gambling problems.

10-Nov-06. 300 Ontarians allege lottery fraud. Calgary Herald, A10.

Ontario’s ombudsman said Thursday that three hundred Ontarians allege they were cheated out of their lottery winnings by dishonest ticket retailers. Andre Marin said all complainants have come forward in the two weeks since he announced he would investigate allegations in a CBC Fifth Estate documentary that an unusually high number of inside winners such as ticket retailers or clerks have collected major prizes over the past seven years.

10-Nov-06. Lottery security tightened after insider jackpots. Globe and Mail, A10.

Duncan Brown, chief executive officer of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp (OLGC) yesterday apologized to customers and promised to implement new security measures to guard against fraud. The OLGC said it will install devices at every ticket outlet that will allow customers to check their own tickets and determine instantly the value of their prize. The move comes two weeks after a CBC television program alleged that more than 200 ticket retailers or clerks have won prizes of more than $50,000 in the past seven years.

9-Nov-06. Like it or not, gaming is an issue. Lethbridge Herald, A6.

This editorial examines Alberta’s growing gaming industry and suggests that a public debate on gambling policy is more than 15 years overdue. It notes that an AADAC policy statement on gambling issued earlier this year stated that about five per cent of Albertans have moderate to severe problems related to gambling. The author writes that the provincial government’s allocation of less than half a per cent of its gaming revenue to prevention, research and treatment does not absolve it of its responsibility to mitigate social damage.

9-Nov-06. ‘Reached limit:’ casino boss. Edmonton Sun, 12.

Barry Pritchard, VP of Casino ABS, which operates Yellowhead Casino in Edmonton, says business has been notably affected by the opening of the River Cree Resort and Casino. He notes that River Cree has benefited from opening an attractive new facility and by allowing smoking. Pritchard also expects the local casino market to quiet down after next week’s opening of a new casino on Edmonton’s Fort Road.

8-Nov-06. Worth the gamble? Lethbridge Herald, A1.

University of Lethbridge Native American Studies professor Yale Belanger maintains the economic benefits of casinos to First Nations outweigh any costs incurred in problem gambling. Belanger makes the case in his new book entitled Gambling with the Future. He notes that First Nations communities are statistically not as well off as mainstream communities and casino development can result in increased employment opportunities, economic diversification, upgraded community infrastructure and more funding for social programs.

8-Nov-06. Young Ontarians flocking to poker. Globe and Mail, A14.

A poll of 1,000 Ontarians conducted by Ipsos-Reid for the Responsible Gambling Council found 24 per cent of people aged 18-34 play poker at least once a week. Jon Kelly, head of the non-profit council, said the surge in poker’s popularity has stemmed largely from Internet gambling sites and stands in direct contrast to an overall drop in gambling participation.

1-Nov-06. Demand should dictate gambling’s rate of growth. Calgary Herald, A4.

This article reports on comments made at a Medicine Hat, Alberta forum for provincial Progressive Conservative leadership candidates. One of the questions at the forum related to the proliferation of gaming in Alberta and the associated social ills. The remainder of the article discusses the responses to this gambling-related question by various candidates as well as the author’s personal recommendations.