19-Feb-07. Government addicted to gambling profits. Edmonton Journal, C6.

Seventeen years after Alberta and other provincial governments began offering sports betting with the creation of the Sports Select lottery, these same governments now appear to be addicted to the huge profits generated from this activity. Garry Smith, a professor with the Alberta Gaming Research Institute at the University of Alberta, says governments tend to overemphasize the economic benefits and downplay the social problems gambling creates because they are so dependent on gambling revenues. In Alberta, sports and non-sports lottery profits are directed to the Alberta Lottery Fund, and from their given to worthy volunteer, non-profit, public and community-based projects throughout the province. Smith believes that governments should remove themselves from direct involvement with gambling so that they are better able to make impartial, objective decisions about gambling.