New Brunswick moves to regulate online gambling

The New Brunswick government is waging a bet on some proposed legislation aimed at regulating online gambling. The province's proposed legislation would let the Atlantic Lottery Corporation open live online casino games. The Atlantic Lottery Corporation is a crown corporation that has gambling operations in each of the Atlantic provinces. That includes popular weekly lotteries like 649, Lotto Max, and sports betting with ProLine. But unlike the rest of Atlantic Canada, it doesn't offer live online casino games in New Brunswick where gamblers can place bets with real dealers. This proposed change to the Gaming Control Act would allow live casinos in New Brunswick But only to be operated by Atlantic Lottery. That's in contrast to the other provinces where dozens of private operators are competing for those bets, leading to a boom in gambling. Yeah, it's blown up because what had happened was Ontario created a new framework. That framework moved beyond its monopoly of having the OLG be the only game in town. They authorized, they created a system that authorized third-party operators. Some names that some people might know, FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM. Ontario and more recently Alberta have created a licensing system for gambling outfits that has generated billions in revenues for the provinces. René Legacy says New Brunswick is taking its time and isn't opening up to other operators yet. We've talked to Ontario and Alberta how that rollout went. It's interesting because Ontario was the first out. I would say that Alberta, there was lessons learned from what Ontario's rollout was. So I think the next wave of provinces that are going to look at this are also seeing can we step up to the next level of what Alberta's lessons were. One expert says this might not have a great impact on gamblers who already have access to several gray market sites that aren't regulated. It's very easy for someone in New Brunswick to go to Google and say, you know, online poker website or online gambling website Europe or online gambling website. And find opportunities to do so and not need the technical competence to require a VPN or all you need is the Internet. And people in New Brunswick have the Internet. You can even bet on games while they're still being played. Seriously. When New Brunswickers use these offshore sites, the province misses out on revenue, which has become a concern for ALC. In an email, ALC spokesperson Greg Weston said the hope is to shift the existing player base of these illegal sites back to ALC. Weston said ALC is locally operated and returns 100% of its profit to the provincial governments to help fund important projects and services we all use. ALC says around $250 million leaves Atlantic Canada each year through unregulated sites. Gambling in a regulated space will allow the province to collect more revenue and promote safeguards to help protect people who develop gambling addiction. That's on the rise in Ontario, especially in younger men, as more gambling options have opened up. The argument that the government is making Is that we, you know, that this activity is occurring no matter what, that it's better for adults to be offered the choice, like, you know, this is about a consumer choice argument, where we're going to give, you know, mature, responsible adults who can make their own decisions, a thing that they want, because they're already doing it through a gray market, and we'll make it safer, because we'll have responsible gambling protection. The province says that its regulated site has safety measures in place to protect its gamblers. Meanwhile critics like Meyer and Worry, it won't actually shift players from the grey market, it'll actually just create more gamblers.