Comments on SAY IT LIKE IT IS - THE BLOGGER GENERAL: Gaming in the 21st Century

I am 57 years old. You people have no morals, refu...

2008-04-02T17:24:00.000-03:00

I am 57 years old. You people have no morals, refuse to take the pulse of the electoat and this has to be the worst government I have seen since Hatfield.I voted for you guys,but I now regret it. I was even thinking of joining the association again,but it won't be yours.When I hear someone say liberal,Bully, arrogant, deceitful, are among just a few words that come to mind.

Nice blog Paul. Err, on winning elections by takin...

2008-03-14T14:01:00.000-03:00

Nice blog Paul. Err, on winning elections by taking your advice - well, I guess that remains to be tested.

:)

Hey TJ,You will want to read my new blog...it will...

2008-03-14T11:48:00.000-03:00

Hey TJ,

You will want to read my new blog...it will help you win elections if you follow my advice!!!!

http://thejanevillebreeze.blogspot.com/

For a guy complaining to Dan F about 'busting your...

2008-03-14T11:22:00.000-03:00

For a guy complaining to Dan F about 'busting your chops' you certainly thrust your jaw out there enough:)! (which is a good thing)

I think by ANY standards the 'principles of responsible gaming' are not ones that NB can claim to. I looked through the legislation and didn't see ONE piece of legislation introduced by this government dealing with gambling, and the history of the enterprise is somewhat spotty at best.

(Just an aside, people should at least be informed that Mr. Burke here has introduced far more legislation than anybody else in government-but thats it for the cheerleading)

We, unfortunately, don't know what those principles ARE. All that is admitted here is that taxpayers money won't be used, which doesn't really have anything to do with 'fair gambling'. In fact, one can argue that the government SHOULD own the facility.

IF it makes money, then all that money goes to the province. Second, its far more likely that those 'fair principles' are adhered to.

An article in the paper awhile ago pointed out that NB simply doesn't have the tourist capabilities that would lead to a single casino being profitable. In PEI, hotels are the places licensed for casino's, to ensure money comes from outside.

In Europe, people who live in towns with casino's are not permitted to gamble in local casino's, while in Switzerland, gamblers are given a bar card that ensures that they cannot gamble for longer than a continuous amount of time. In the states its been shown that simply telling operators to 'make sure people don't gamble too long' is completely ineffective.

So don't put the cart before the horse, Tim Smith pointed out that he couldn't even get the modest proposal of limiting sunday gambling to a few select hours into legislation, so whether there are 'fair principles of gambling' remains to be seen.

Here's an excellent article on gambling in NB:
http://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/
paper-2003/hyson.pdf

Other jurisdictions are often able to vote on whet...

2008-03-14T10:28:00.000-03:00

Other jurisdictions are often able to vote on whether or not a casino is established in their locale, why not New Brunswick? We already know that VLTs can and have ruined peoples lives, and we know that gambling can be addictive. Does the increased revenue to the government outweigh the societal effects of gambling?

Personally, I have no problem feeding a fiver into the video crack machine at the bar on a Friday night. I probably go to a casino every other year to lose $50playing blackjack (20? hit me, there's four aces in the deck). I just don't believe that this casino is going to be the tourism mecca it's been pitched as. I have a hard time believing that people will come from outside the province on a Wednesday afternoon in February to gamble. It will be local money flowing into the cashier's cage.

It also seems to be poor form to introduce gambling to the province with the lowest mathematical scores in the country. We should at least introduce extra statistics courses to high school before opening the casino, and give these students the skills they'll need to succeed at the craps table.