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'Highly Deceptive' Slot Machines Filling Gov't Coffers
'Programmed on purpose to throw you off': expert.
'Like stacked deck of cards'
Slot machines suck in a lot more cash for the provincial government than bingo ever did, largely because they mislead players, said an expert on electronic gambling machines.
"The problem with these games is we're discovering they're highly deceptive," said Roger Horbay. Based in Ontario, Horbay has a background in treating addictions and specializes in problem gambling. He is the president of Game Planit, a company that educates people on how a slot machine works.
"It's programmed on purpose to throw you off," he said.
In British Columbia, the province has been converting bingo halls into mini casinos called "community gaming centres" complete with slot machines. The 11th opened in Courtenay last week with 75 slots, another is scheduled to open with 79 in Prince George, and three more have the local approvals they need to make the conversion.
The B.C. Lottery Corporation forecasts it will make $115.7 million from community gaming centres this year. That's up from $53.7 million two years ago, and less than half the $249.8 million it predicts for two years from now.
Deceptive machines
Slot machines are very deceptive compared to bingo, Horbay said. Bingo balls come out in a random order, he said, and anyone can observe that. "It's pretty transparent. When you're playing bingo, you're not under any deceptions about how the game works."
The electronic gaming machines used throughout North America, however, work in ways that make it hard for the player to understand what is going on.
Like other jurisdictions, B.C. uses animated slot machines, which would be called video lottery terminals elsewhere, that have the appearance of traditional mechanical reels. Most people don't realize the reels are weighted, said Horbay, so that the winning symbols come up much less frequently than losing ones.
A needed symbol, for instance, will appear 12 times above or below the winning position for every time it comes up where the player needs it to win, he said.
On his website he dissects a set of reels, showing that the number of blank spaces far exceeds the number of cherries or other symbols. In some cases, he said, the odds will be even worse, with as few as just one of the winning symbols on a reel.
Nor are players told how many times a winning symbol is on each reel. "They're unbalanced," he said. "The players don't know this . . . . All these distortion techniques don't allow for informed choice."
Even table games are fairer than the slots, he said. Governments prohibit casinos using a stacked deck of cards or weighted dice, he said. And yet slot machines, he said, are allowed to be programmed in ways that give players an unfair impression of how close they are coming to winning.
"These virtual reels are like stacked decks of cards," he said. "You're not showing the player the game they're actually playing. That's the problem."
Technical standards
Gambling in B.C. is managed by the crown corporation BCLC and overseen by the Ministry for Public Safety and Solicitor General. Solicitor General John Les was unavailable for an interview. The BCLC did not have anyone available for an interview either, though a spokesperson provided background information.
B.C. has a set of technical standards that govern gambling in the province, including a 36-page policy on electronic gambling devices. Machines are independently tested and have to have a "certificate of gaming integrity" from the solicitor general's ministry, a spokesperson for the BCLC said in an e-mail.
The standards include a "no near miss" clause that says once it has been determined a player will lose, the machine shouldn't change the result it shows the player.
"The game shall not substitute a particular type of loss to show the player," the standard says. "This would eliminate the possibility of simulating a 'near miss' scenario where the odds of the top award symbol landing on the payline are limited but frequently appear above or below the payline."
However, the clause fails to eliminate "near misses," said Horbay. There's no need to substitute a close losing combination, he said, because the reels are designed so that the first combination that comes up often appears to be close to a winner. As long as the "near miss" is arrived at by random, he said, the regulations allow it.
"They don't need that secondary decision because they've already programmed it to be weighted," he said. "You're giving the player a near miss effect more often than is statistically possible given the reels."
Subliminal winners
A CBC investigation last year found some machines made by Konami appeared to flash subliminal messages at players for a fifth of a second: "Long enough for the brain to detect even if the players are not aware of the message."
Ontario pulled 87 machines out of service following the investigation, the CBC reported.
After the February 2007, story, B.C. regulators found there were nine of the same machines in use in the province. They were immediately disabled, a spokesperson for the BCLC said in an e-mail. However, the gaming policy and enforcement branch of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General "reviewed the integrity of the slot machines and found no integrity issues."
Still, BCLC stopped using the machines within a month. "As part of its regular business operations," the e-mail said, "BCLC phased out a number of slot machines with older technology to make room for new technology." The ones that went included the Konami machines.
'Regulatory scandal' alleged
Many players realize intuitively they don't win as often as they should, Horbay said. They know something is wrong, but they blame their failure to win on bad luck, not realizing the machines are stacked unfairly against them.
"The public's not aware of any of this. The public thinks because it's government sanctioned it's all fine and dandy. If people knew, they'd get very angry."
Profits from slot machines, and government revenues from them, are directly related to deception, he said. "The more they can create the illusion in the player that the odds are good, the more money they make."
Governments may be reluctant to hurt their own bottom lines by cleaning up the industry, he added, but if they don't they'll find themselves on the losing end in court. "You can legalize gambling, and even slot machines, but you can't legalize fraud."
More lawsuits coming?
In Newfoundland there's already a class action suit underway. Horbay said there will soon be similar suits in Ontario, with British Columbia and other provinces to follow.
"I would predict the next lawsuit starts in B.C.," he said. The province's consumer protection act puts the burden of proof on a supplier to prove an action wasn't deceptive. "Your act seems to be even more favourable. It's just a matter of time."
It will take somebody pushing the issue, he said, to clean up the industry. "The real scandal is the regulators know about this," he said. "This is a huge regulatory scandal . . . Everybody passes the buck. It's somebody else's problem. I think this is a massive regulatory failure."
The BCLC and the government came through a scandal last year that might hold some lessons. BCLC president and CEO Vic Poleschuk lost his job after it was found he didn't act quickly enough to investigate whether lottery ticket vendors were winning more often than is statistically likely.
In that case it took news stories and a report by ombudsman Kim Carter to get the BCLC and the government to take the issue seriously. Said Horbay, "Maybe they'll learn to be proactive this time."
Related Tyee stories:
- Gambling Goes Boom
Slot machines in rebranded bingo halls boost BC revenues. - Government Push for More Slot Gambling
Slot machines in bingo halls are Liberals' latest plan to boost gambling revenues, reversing election promises. - Broken Promise on Gambling Suicides
Chief coroner pledged to track cases in 2004. - A Government Learns to Love Gambling
Leaked letters reveal the B.C. Liberals' journey from opposing to allowing expanded gambling.
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
- BC snuffs out AirCare test program
- AFN national chief Shawn Atleo to launch re-election bid
- Citizens group releases video to fight undead Bill C-30
- Conservative MP says he might vote against budget, then 'clarifies' his position
- Genetically modified plants won't take root with councillors in Richmond, BC
- Hundreds at Vancouver rally to support Quebec students
- Could Fort Mac become an eco-tourist hotspot?
- Rick Hansen's Man in Motion anniversary tour concludes in Vancouver
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Who Mowed Down the Premier?
- Canada's Economy, Deconstructed (by a 12 year-old)
- Death in Remand: a Tyee Inquiry
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
- 'A Gut Feeling'
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- Why Blackberry's Embrace of HTML5 Is Good Karma
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- The Ethics of Addiction Studies
- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
- Alberta Fills Pipes with Corrosive Denial
- Does BC Stand for Ban Clotheslines?
- BC biotech company seeks approval for GM apple
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- What's Behind BC's Doors?
- Death in Remand: Stacked Deck
- Does BC Stand for Ban Clotheslines?
- 'Moonrise Kingdom'
- Tyee Builders Tally: Amazing!
- From Financial Advisor to Occupier
- 'Storage Wars'
- How Our Immune Systems Exaggerate Fear
- Does Simon Fraser University Need a Men's Centre?
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- Why Blackberry's Embrace of HTML5 Is Good Karma
- Double lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- ISS astronauts grab DragonX space capsule by the tail with Canada Arm
- Metro Vancouver gas prices peak at record levels
- Ottawa posts $9-billion deficit in March despite pledge to avoid spending spree
- BC phases out AirCare to focus on fighting bigger vehicle emissions
- Tsunami senors to be dropped into deep sea off of Vancouver Island
- Student groups file court challenge against Quebec protest law
- ...while on the streets, pirates and ninjas put aside mutual animosity to join student protests
41
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RickW
4 years ago
Not much different than Cigs & Booze....
....so why the reluctance to legalize Pot?
Grumpy
4 years ago
Grumpy
Corrupt gaming machines, from a corrupt government, go figure. This certainly puts to rest that the provincial government is honest.
SharingIsGood
4 years ago
slot -vs- bingo
The bingo games in bingo halls, though a tax on the poor, also help fill a vital function: they provide some group interaction, socializing.
The highly addictive VDTs suck down money at break-neck pace. A slot-addict can quickly destroy his or her self-worth while onloading the family's treasure. Hence, he or she becomes desperate. A desperate person with low self-esteem will do desperate things to survive: lie, cheat steal, have sex for money, take drugs and sell drugs. Families disintegrate. These are the additional burdens the wide-open society carries. These are the burdens that people who want nothing to do with drinking, drugs, promiscuity and gambling pay for our government's increasing the hours and venues for alcohol and gambling.
Stump
4 years ago
socializing
A bingo hall during a game is as quiet as a monastery. So any socializing going on is simply a factor of people in the same place at the same time. Church, crafts, volunteering... these could all replace the social aspect and not drain money into corporate coffers. It's illuminating to overlay bingo parlour locations with demographic data. Very few parlours in expensive neighbourhoods. It's less a tax on stupidity than a tax on desperation and dreams.
Further, the old mechanical slots had a modicum of chance and randomness to them. I fail to see how machines that can have the win rate turned up or down (electronic slot machines) have any random or 'luck' factors involved. Another way of saying it... the ref is changing the rules of the game and you don't even know it. Don't even get me started on people betting on the outcome of electronic horse or car races.
BCLS is one step above the Hell's Angels... but only because they've managed to get their highly-addictive product legalized. At least with the H.A. the weed/coke/meth buzz lasts a little longer.
And if you knew how little respect I have for fat, useless white men exploiting, profiting, and killing others under the guise of a motorcycle club... you'd get a sense of the utter disgust I have for the lottery and gambling industries. A raffle for a kid's bike in the church basement is one thing. So is a friendly game of poker at the kitchen table. But the BCLC's greed for the money of the gullible, avaricious, or desperate -- shows how utterly bereft of leadership or concern for the public interest our governments really are.
Institutionalized wealth transfer under the guise of gaming is the biggest wart on our society's increasingly ravaged visage.
Stump
4 years ago
I typed BCLS in the previous
I typed BCLS in the previous rant, but meant BCLC (B.C. Lottery Crooks... I mean Corporation)
BC Mary
4 years ago
There's a much wider significance in these words ...
Andrew MacLeod writes:
They [the public] know something is wrong, but they blame their failure to win on bad luck, not realizing the machines are stacked unfairly against them ... The public's not aware of any of this. The public thinks because it's government sanctioned it's all fine and dandy. If people knew, they'd get very angry."
Much, much wider significance in these words.
Also in: "It's a jungle out there."
Stump
4 years ago
Welcome to the Jungle... we got fun and gaming
Someone's making a monkey out of us? Or, we must be bananas?
skeptikool
4 years ago
Think electronic voting and tabulating
Even several casino table games have gone electronic. And why not - no dealers to pay. The technology is similar, and as with electronic voting and tabulating, all are vulnerable to manipulation.
With the gambling industry pretty well owning the media, it's not likely we'll see much discussion regarding problem gambling. There are even suspect Web message boards where the industry's shills have been fast to intervene.
The country-wide discussion of lottery fraud could hardly be avoided after the CBC's exposure - and it being so blatant.
NoLeftNutter
4 years ago
Huh?
so, which gambling industry heavywieght owns the Tyee?
G West
4 years ago
you see the words 'pretty much'?
What do you suppose those words mean?
RickW
4 years ago
stump
So what purpose is served by maintaining a low level of continuing desperation?
Perhaps that is why pot isn't legalized -- using it would remove (albeit temporarily) the anxiety, instead of feeding it the way gambling does............
skeptikool
4 years ago
Thanks for explaining "pretty well" G. West
Clearly, The Tyee is not averse to discussing the issue and is currently doing so. I do not engage in innuendo lightly.
I'm not a prude on gambling and am a casino patron frequently.
Not too long ago on a Web message board (not Tyee) I voiced suspicions regarding the card shuffling machines used in the game of mini-baccarat. This, after recording hundreds of games. This brought insulting comments re: the possibility of my suffering paranoia.
It wasn't long before I was vindicated following the reporting of a gang of fraudsters complicit with casino staff taking casinos both sides of the border for millions of dollars at "games of baccarat".
The players were betting on known outcomes. This suggested a falsely shuffled, or stacked, decks.
Stump
4 years ago
RickW
The desperate will pay a high price for a small dose of happiness and/or hope. That's why lotto tickets and crack are so cheap... to keep it affordable so the next hit is always within financial reach.
happy
4 years ago
skepticool
Apparently since you frequent casinos you're a desperate loser as suggested above. And here you thought you were just having a little innocent fun...
skeptikool
4 years ago
No, happy, not desperate.
No, I don't touch the one-armed bandits - or their electronic, touch-button equivalents. I figure computers are much smarter than me.
That doesn't mean that I can't be a desperate loser. Like the late Nick the Greek, I study the game well and stay away from the sucker bets.
Some of us approach it as a mathematical challenge. I think the reason we see so many retired people at slot machines is that they have become bored out of their skulls at home. That aspect, alone, is worthy of study.
What is clear here is that government has caved in, if there was resistance at all, to the gambling industries interests - without regard to social costs.
DPL
4 years ago
It is beyond me why people
It is beyond me why people figure they will get rich or make a bunch of money when gambling, especially when the machines can be set to benefit the house. Some folks get addicted , but for a large number of us it isn't going to happen as we have better things to do than shove money into some machine especially when one of the recipients of the cash is the present provincial government who were going to limit the gambling in BC. What they are limiting is the amount of money some suckers get to keep.So go for it you folks who have more money than sense.
happy
4 years ago
I know skepticool
That was tongue in cheek about the "loser" part. I think some folks are just a little too over the top with their holier than thou attitudes about how others may want to enjoy themselves. Legally.
You're right about the one armed bandits though. No skill required there. Players would probably have a better chance buying lottery tickets than getting a payout from one of them. I think your theory about older persons playing them for the entertainment value is apt. Easy, and enjoyable way for them to kill an afternoon. It's their money.
happy
4 years ago
BTW skeptiKool
sorry I spelled your name wrong - twice
NoLeftNutter
4 years ago
pretty much ...pretty well
I pretty much know that claiming “With the gambling industry pretty well owning the media” is a pretty big pile of heifer dust……
pender paul
4 years ago
no honesty from government or business
Are you really surprised that the machines are "adjusted" to favour the house? Why should gambling be any different from any other aspect of life--the government routinely lies, business has no incentive to tell the truth about anything and many folks are in full flight trying to find instant riches with no work attached. Gaming centres are the perfect marriage of [EDITED FOR LEGAL CONCERNS. -MODERATOR], government and business--all justified by the government as it 'keeps taxes down' and 'benefits community activities'.
G West
4 years ago
NLN
When was the last time you saw anything critical about gambling in the MSM?
They even use the euphemism instead of calling it gambling - or haven't you noticed?
Please, I'd like to know.
I'd also like you to look at Casinos and Lotteries BC as a major advertiser in all forms of media.
You think any major media company is going to be critical of a major advertiser.
Please take a moment and research what happened to a Times-Colonist writer who said something critical in a column about Butchart Gardens.
I think you'll find out you're the one selling fertilizer my friend.
I’m not interested in doing research for you – just in trying to get you to open your eyes.
woody
4 years ago
G West
I'm curious, what did the Times-Colonist writer say, also, what happened to him-her.
SharingIsGood
4 years ago
TC article in Tyee - woody
I was curious too, woody, so I found this:
http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2006/07/25/VivianSmith/
woody
4 years ago
SharingIsGood
Thank you, SharingIsGood.
Stump
4 years ago
enjoyment
Yeah, gaming is so much fun that some people will leave their kids in the car in a casino parking lot for hours just to prolong the good times. Or, there's the folks wearing adult diapers at the slots so they don't have to take a piss-break. Pure fun for sure, and no compulsion whatsoever.
Booze is legal. It destroys lives too. The legality is not the issue. At least the distillers are honest about the alcohol content. I wonder how much attendance would drop at a casino if they confessed to essentially 'rigging' the slots to turn down the winnings when profits aren't obscene enough.
ME2
4 years ago
Just clean fun?
Some 55 year ago, Stump, in my religious instruction class I suggested to our instructor that since prostitution has been around forever and no one has ever succeeded in making it go away, wouldn't it be sensible to legalise brothels and finance the required health supervision and other costs through taxation?
His response was that all other considerations aside, it is wrong to make government complicit in profiting from "sin", since moral aspects inevitably become a distant second-best to achieving the greatest revenue.
And we can see that syndrome in spades with the Campbell government's gambling policies. Instead of merely making it legally possible for gamblers to have their enjoyment, the gov't is itself a participant in the business, selling a wide variety of pull-tabs, scratch-and-win cards, lottery tickets, and displayed video games such as Keno. All these scams pay out only 50% of what they take in. The retailer gets only 1.5%, seeing sales as loss-leaders.
In the pursuit of increasing revenue, gov't advertises heavily, promoting sales with get-rich-quick blandishments. That's pretty sleazy business, IMO, exhibiting not only a lack of moral fibre, but unconcern for the citizen as well - "The Market" in full flower.
And you can bet that the profits will NOT come back to us in social programs, but merely allow greater tax reductions for the Corporations.
And now they are promoting Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs), widely recognised as the most addictive and personally destructive gambling instrument of them all.
Just legalised thieves practicing legalised thievery. Nothing more, nothing less.
G West
4 years ago
For you woody
She wrote a piece about alternative destinations for families to take their kids - places where it wouldn't cost more than a hundred beans to get in the door and which were at least 'mildly' child oriented.
Butchart's marketing manager called somebody at the T/C and the columnist lost her gig.
Eventually enough journos and others (organized via the net mostly) screamed blue murder and the paper backed off...
Here's a copy of the letter Richard Cleroux wrote to the publisher at the end of the affair:
Richard Cleroux
President, Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Association of Journalists Parliamentary Press Gallery, Ottawa
Bob McKenzie
Publisher, Victoria Times-Colonist
Victoria, BC
Dear Mr. McKenzie:
On behalf of the members of the Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Association of Journalists I write to commend you on your decision to rescind the indefinite suspension of Vivian Smith both as a columnist and a writing coach.
Ms. Smith is a nationally-respected journalist, editor and journalism educator, and her presence as a contributor brings credit to your newspaper. I am glad that you see it that way.
Your decision supports your declaration that advertisers do not influence the editorial policies of your newspaper - and I might add, the human resources policies either.
I am sure many of your readers will applaud your decision.
I urge you as well to make every effort to appeal to Ms. Van Leuven and Janis Ringuetteto return to the Times Colonist as well, so that we can all put this entire episode behind us and get on with the business of publishing a fine newspaper of national acclaim.
Richard Cleroux,
President, Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Association of Journalists
woody
4 years ago
G West
Thanks for the story.
NoLeftNutter
4 years ago
Ownership?
Sorry GW, one mistreated reporter and a lack of critical coverage in your opinion, does not “ownership” make. Skeptikool’s statement still stinks to high heaven.
skeptikool
4 years ago
Flattered, but don't make ths about skeptikool
An hour rarely passes without a lottery or casino ad on TV. I'm looking at a 12-page glossy "magazine" insert entitled Jackpot It came with one of the dailies - perhaps both. None of it comes cheaply.
Coincidentally, columnist Joey Thompson writes further today on the lottery scandal: $11 lotto win puts gas-station operator out on street. She contrasts treatment accorded a fired, BCLC "head honcho" who received a "lavish $600,000 see-ya-later package" - a decision that produced universal disgust.
happy
4 years ago
looks like today
West asks:
"When was the last time you saw anything critical about gambling in the MSM?"
Skepikool replies:
"Coincidentally, columnist Joey Thompson writes further today on the lottery scandal: $11 lotto win puts gas-station operator out on street. She contrasts treatment accorded a fired, BCLC "head honcho" who received a "lavish $600,000 see-ya-later package" - a decision that produced universal disgust."
skeptikool
4 years ago
Big, big deal. happy
Was not at all embarrassed to refer to this story. The print media could hardly ignore the lottery scandal, I believe, involving three or four provinces at last count, after the competing CBC did such an excellent, whistle-blowing job.
This article was less about the evils of gambling, perceived or otherwise, than contrasting shabby treatment of a gas-station operator with that of a fired, BCLC executive and, in the eyes of many, his stench-ridden payoff.
If I try a link to the story, I'll probably lose this. Perhaps I'll try it separately. Hang on!
skeptikool
4 years ago
Try this
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/columnists/story.html?id=f62dd34c-1f68-4394-9020-2de24f262035
G West
4 years ago
YEP Happy
I haven't seen any suggestions in the media that the Quebec option might not be a bad idea...no lottery retailer or her family can buy and/or win a prize on lotteries run in that province.
Seems pretty damn obvious to me. First lesson any accountant learns - pay attention to cash and near cash....
G West
4 years ago
skeptikool
absolutely - and they are pathetically disgusting ads to boot.
Neither the government nor the operators have a shred of credibility left...their behavior and their palpable greed are disgusting.
Orwell had it right...when things get hopeless the proles turn to the lottery.
skeptikool
4 years ago
I had to laugh
Andrew MacLeod had right in the first three words of his article: Slot machines suck......
happy
4 years ago
easy there skeptikool
Embarrass, where'd you get that from? My point was that there are plenty of articles to be found in the MSM daily on subjects like this and others critical of the government that many posters swear would never see the light of day in that media. Yesterday in the Sun Palmer wrote an article that would fit right in here on the Tyee - if you know what I mean. So when I see comments like this:
"This is about as convincing as Palmer's usual stuff.
In other words - NOT VERY."
I have to laugh. Heres a balanced reporter who writes articles pro and con on both main provincial parties all the time. At least I have an open mind, unlike this commenter
happy
4 years ago
Oh and BTW
I'm not the "HAPPY" who leads off the discussion on that link you provided. Perhaps he's my evil twin seperated at birth...
G West
4 years ago
Palmer 'balanced'?
You mean because every time he criticizes Campbell he never fails to mention something that happened in the last century under the NDP?
I'm not surprised you'd say that, happy, it's exactly the same kind of thing you post.
That's not balance – it is subterfuge and sleight of hand - an attempt to get the thicker observers among the populace to forget about who has (and is screwing up) the levers of power now...The worst offender is usually George Abbott in the House – he’s now attempting to whitewash the neglect of seniors in private care homes with exactly that kind of ‘balance’.
Or haven’t you noticed?
Don't know if you saw this, if not, maybe it's time to start looking at something a little less superficial than Vaughn Palmer.
...the Business Council of B.C. reported growth in the final quarter of 2007 was an anemic 0.3-per-cent -- the second below-average quarter in a row and weakest six-month period for the economy in seven years.
happy
4 years ago
pot calling kettle
So Palmer can't critisize the libs without dragging the ndp into it also you say. That describes you to a T. Practically every post, no matter what the subject, you toss in a drive by smear agaist the libs, even if they're not even remotely connected with the topic. I offer your post above as a perfect example.
How about Smyth then. Is he balanced? He's written plenty of critical articles on the ndp. You klnow why I ask of course...
G West
4 years ago
Wrong, as always, again.
Please tell me who's in power in Victoria and who has been since 2001?
Last time I checked it was Gordon Campbell. And as long as it is he's the one who wears the donkey ears.[i]
And you're the one with the Palmer disease - Smyth has it as well.
And now you’re claiming that the Campbell ‘Liberals’ aren't connected to the gambling issue?
I'd like to hear your rationalization for that statement.
btw, my attacks aren't drive by at all - I'm plainly and openly out to get rid of the worst government this province have ever had - any alternative, including the monster raving looney party would be an improvement.
Sadly, if Campbell doesn't get his walking papers in the next election there will be bugger all left in this province worth fighting for.