28-Feb-07. Group bets on Vietnam casino resort. Globe and Mail, B15.

Asian Coast Development Ltd. of Toronto, with partners Fontainebleue Resorts and Paul Steelman, a Las Vegas-based casino architect, are proposing a $4-billion (U.S.) resort and casino in Vietnam. There are currently only a handful of small casinos in northern Vietnam and gambling is still a nascent industry.

22-Feb-07. Gamehost reports record profits. Red Deer Advocate, B3.

Red Deer-based Gamehost Income Fund has reported record revenues of $49.3-million for 2006. This is up $18.2-million from the previous year and $24.1-million from 2004. Gamehost owns and operates casinos in Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie and is a 40 per cent joint venture partner in the Deerfoot Inn and Casino in Calgary.

21-Feb-07. Gambling his life away. Edmonton Journal, C1.

This article profiles the negative impacts of one man’s involvement with sports gambling. There are an estimated 1.2-million problem gamblers in Canada and gamblers are losing four times as much money gambling as they were ten years ago.

23-Feb-07. Want fair lotteries? Let bookies run them. Globe and Mail, B2.

This article notes that North American lotteries are moving toward continental consolidation and that U.S. states Illinois and Indiana are preparing to sell their state lotteries to the highest bidders. The author questions these types of transactions because private monopolies are illegal and it is questionable whether governments can transfer monopoly authorty to private corporations. University of Chicago professor Randal Picker, an authority on antitrust laws, regards this strategy as offensive and also views the low payout rates of public lotteries as a form of hidden taxation.

21-Feb-07. Betting on ponies no longer enough for horse-racing industry. Edmonton Journal, C5.

Wagering and attendance at horse racing events in Alberta has plummeted over the past twenty five years. Some of Canada’s horse racing industry representatives are not seeking to put sports books into their racetracks, thereby opening the way for bettors to gamble not only on the horses, but on football, hockey, basketball or other events at the same time. Edmonton Northlands racing and gaming general manager Les Butler says there would first have to be a change to the Criminal Code of Canada in order to allow wagering on single events.

21-Feb-07. Internet wagering may be key to sports gambling’s future. Edmonton Journal, C1.

This article gathers opinions from gambling researchers, industry insiders and government officials on the future directions of online sports gambling. Michael Lipton, a Montreal lawyer and member of the International Masters of Gaming Law says that Internet gambling has reached the point where it should be regulated. Robert Williams, a research coordinator for the Alberta Gaming Research Institute, predicts interactive gambling and peer-to-peer betting exchanges will soon be the newest Internet craze.

20-Feb-07. Click of mouse and you can lose your house. Edmonton Journal, C9.

This article reports that the unfettered accessibility of gambling over the Internet is a potentially huge problem. In an ongoing study of online gambling, University of Lethbridge professors Robert Williams and Robert Wood have found that those who gamble on the Internet are 10 times more likely to be problem gamblers than those who use other forms of gambling. In addition, half of the Internet gamblers in their study are age 21 or younger.

19-Feb-07. Get in the ‘unfair’ game. Edmonton Journal, C7.

In this article, the government-sanctioned Sport Select lottery is reported to offer drastically poorer odds for gamblers in comparison to similar wagers made at Las Vegas sports books. The government’s parlay wagers are also considerably lower than what legal and illegal bookmakers pay. The government response to such criticism is that Sports Select is meant for entertainment and not for serious gamblers.

19-Feb-07. Gambling money the lifeblood of sports groups. Edmonton Journal, C6.

Basketball Alberta and hundreds of other not-for-profit amateur sports groups all rely on the province for a significant portion of their funding. Former University of Alberta athletic director Ian Reade recently researched gambling’s dollar trail into amateur sports and found that virtually all government money given to these organizations comes from gambling revenues. Garry Smith, a gambling research specialist at the University of Alberta, suggest that a morally troublesome statistic for such sports groups is that 40 per cent of the province’s gambling revenue from slot machines comes from the five per cent of the population classified as problem gamblers. He also says that Alberta’s charitable model of gambling is a misnomer as only about 20 per cent of the money from the Alberta Lottery Fund goes to groups that might be considered non-profit, community-based and charitable.

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.

18-Feb-07. An offer athletes simply can’t refuse. Edmonton Journal, C1.

Michael Franzese, a former captain in New York’s Colombo crime family explains how he and his associates fixed sporting events by demanding athletes with gambling debts ensure that their teams won by only a certain number of points. Franzese spent seven years in prison for racketeering but has now turned his life around and talks to athletes about the perils of gambling. Match-fixing is reportedly still going on at the U.S. college level and there have also been a number of recent high-profile scandals in professional Italian and Brazilian soccer leagues.

17-Feb-07. The secret lives of illegal bookies. Edmonton Journal, D1.

The bookie’s act of taking wagers from individuals and charging a commission is against the law but that hasn’t stopped bookies from plying their trade in Edmonton and elsewhere. The Journal managed to find four Edmonton bookmakers over the past several months that were willing to talk about their activities. According to the four, the bookmaking community in Edmonton has transformed considerably in the past decade and there are now far more bookmakers than there used to be but their clients are betting less.

17-Feb-07. Gaming now part of the game. Edmonton Journal, A3.

The relationship between sports owners, athletes and leagues and the gambling industry has never been closer. Examples cited in this article include individual professional athletes who have admitted gambling involvement, online gambling advertising at games, media coverage of betting lines, and directed lottery support for several Canadian professional sports franchises.

17-Feb-07. Dirty little secret no more. Edmonton Journal, A1.

This item introduces a five-part series of articles to appear in The Journal called Games of Chance: Inside Sports Gambling that will examine many of the nuances of sports gambling. It is noted that there has been a shift from an era when sports distanced themselves from gamblers to today’s cozy relationship between the two. The integrity of professional games is now at risk because of this association, as is the integrity of the coaches and athletes who play the games and those who bet on them.

9-Feb-07. Gaming commission investigating native band over Internet gambling. Red Deer Advocate, B9.

Alberta Solicitor General Fred Lindsay said in an interview that the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission is investigating the Alexander First Nation after the band recently announced its intention to offer online gaming licences. Lindsay said Internet gaming is illegal in Alberta and he will ensure that it does not happen. Cheryl Gibson, an official with the band's newly formed Internet technology firm, says a large data centre is in the final stages of construction.

8-Feb-07. Alberta to roll Internet dice? Red Deer Advocate, A4.

This editorial discusses an opinion poll being conducted by the Alberta government to find out how the province's residents feel about legalized Alberta-based online gambling web sites. Government opposition critics are concerned that any such opportunities to gambling online would likely result in more individuals with gambling problems. The remainder of the article highlights recent gambling initiatives in Alberta and notes that the sector is troubled.

11-Feb-07. Online gambling still in grey area. Edmonton Journal, A18.

This editorial relates to the announcement that Alexander First Nation will host offshore casino firms who want to set up computer servers and offer online gambling to individuals living outside of Canada. It is noted that the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission has said the operations are illegal and should be stopped. The author poses questions about whether a service that serves gamblers outside the country should be illegal. Also, if the government itself eventually offers online gambling, it might be difficult to justify a decision to close down the centre on the Alexander reserve.

11-Feb-07. Striking casino workers reject contract offer. Edmonton Journal, A15.

Striking workers at Edmonton’s Palace Casino have rejected an offer from owner Gateway Casinos Ltd. by a final vote of 99 against and 73 in favour. The strike at the West Edmonton Mall casino has lasted five months.

10-Feb-07. Band’s online gambling bid has outside chance, experts say. Edmonton Journal, A2.

The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission is investigating the Emdonton-area Alexander First Nation which is offering licences for online poker, casino or sports-betting houses but has not yet started operations. The provincial regulator deems that any gaming schemes taking place outside its regulations is against the Criminal Code. Gaming industry lawyer Michael Lipton says it might be possible for the band to get legal approval to host offshore Internet gambling firms if it can prove that wagering was a major part of their ancestral heritage.

10-Feb-07. Good odds on addiction. Edmonton Sun, 12.

This article discusses the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission’s poll to see if Albertans want to see legal Internet gambling as well as the announcement by the Alexander First Nation that they intend to offer licences to online gambling firms. Comments about the possible risks of online gambling by a number of researchers consultants to provide additional background on this gambling format.

9-Feb-07. Stampede hits the jackpot with new super casino. Calgary Herald, E2.

This article describes plans for the proposed Stampede Casino at the Stampede Exhibition grounds which will be the largest in Calgary once complete. The size of the building will be 95,000-square-feet and will include a large dedicated poker room as well as table games and slot machines. The entire building has been designed with a contemporary western theme.

9-Feb-07. Wild West for online gamblers. Edmonton Journal, A9.

Robert Williams, a health sciences professor at the University of Lethbridge and research coordinator for the Alberta Gaming Research Institute, says research suggests that two per cent of Canadians participate in online gambling. Provincial gaming regulators in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada already offer lotteries, keno, and sports betting opportunities which are resticted to residents of those provinces. Online gambling is considered more addictive than conventional gambling because of the speed of play and the fact that players are isolated.

8-Feb-07. Band forges ahead with online casino plan. Edmonton Journal, A3.

Alexander First Nation, near Morinville, announced last October that its own gambling commission will regulate and offer licences to Internet gambling operators. In preparation to accommodate online gambling operations, Alexander is building a 2,300-square-metre data centre on its territory which will host computer servers for gambling web sites. Alexander appears to be following a successful model developed and operated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission which is located on Mohawk Territory in Quebec. University of Alberta gambling research specialist Garry Smith points out that legal opinion is that the Kahnawake initiative is likely a violation of the Criminal Code but there are some lawyers with differing opinions on the matter.

8-Feb-07. Province not all in with Internet-gambling survey. Calgary Sun, 4.

Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary and fellow social activists are outraged over media reports that the province is surveying opinions about Internet gambling. Alberta Gaming Commission spokesperson Marilyn Carlyle-Helms says the province is not moving forward on Internet gambling right now and that the telephone and online survey of 800 Albertans hopes to find out if they gambling online and what games they play.

7-Feb-07. Alberta looking to get in on action. Calgary Sun, 7.

Global TV reports that the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission is considering creating web sites for people to play poker, blackjack, or bet on sports online. The commission has ordered two polls to guage how Albertans feel about the idea. A spokesperson for the commission says they’re in the early stages of player research.

7-Feb-07. Province polls gamblers. Edmonton Sun, 5.

Marilyn Carlyle-Helms, a spokesperson for the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, yesterday said the organization has commissioned a poll to determine Albertans’ feelings about online gambling. Carlyle-Helms said that if the province were to allow Internet gambling sites to be based out of Alberta – with the government taking a cut of the revenues - it wouldn’t happen for a long time. In November, it was projected Alberta would take in $1.4-billion from gambling in the province this fiscal year.

7-Feb-07. Alberta gov’t mulls leap into online gambling. Edmonton Journal, A6.

Global TV reports that the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission is considering creating web sites for people to play poker, blackjack, or bet on sports online. The commission has ordered two polls to guage how Albertans feel about the idea. A spokesperson for the commission says they’re in the early stages of player research.

4-Feb-07. FBI tackles Super Bowl online betting. Edmonton Journal, A2.

This article reports on the U.S. crackdown on Internet gambling and describes a series of related events that have taken place since the 2000 wire-fraud conviction of sports betting entrepreneur Jay Cohen for operating a web site in Antigua. Justice Department officials have long been on record as saying that Internet gambling breaks the law but only recently have executives and businesses faced criminal charges. Legal experts say there are questions about whether Internet gaming is a crime worthy of extradition in most foreign jurisdictions.

3-Feb-07. Free the ponies. Edmonton Journal, A18.

This editorial discusses the $60-million in subsidies that is received annually by Horse Racing Alberta from the provincial government. Since 2002, about $200-million has gone from the treasury to subsidize an industry that is largely based on gambling. This program has recently attracted the attention of Alberta Liberal MLA Maurice Tougas who has said the funds would be more appropriately spent on schools or health care services. The editorialist recommends that Premier Ed Stelmach should begin to wean Horse Racing Alberta away from government largesse.

31-Jan-07. Sounds like an addiction but not a harmful one. Calgary Sun, 59.

This article discusses the vast amounts of time some people spend participating in fantasy sports leagues. UNLV professor Dr. Bo Bernhard did a study on fantasy sports last year and found only a few instances of the phenomenon taking over someone’s life. The inability to properly monitor fantasy players also makes it difficult to determine whether or not fantasy sports leads to more serious forms of gambling, like wagering on games.

31-Jan-07. Sounds like an addiction but not a harmful one. Edmonton Sun, S13.

This article discusses the vast amounts of time some people spend participating in fantasy sports leagues. UNLV professor Dr. Bo Bernhard did a study on fantasy sports last year and found only a few instances of the phenomenon taking over someone’s life. The inability to properly monitor fantasy players also makes it difficult to determine whether or not fantasy sports leads to more serious forms of gambling, like wagering on games.