statistics, blah!

I suspect they got their numbers on people using the site, even once, because they had a promotion where they basically gave you $100 for signing in on-line!
I did and thank you, money is always welcome, but there is no way I would participate using your regular odds!
That was a promotion effort, just like the freebees from any other institutions trying to snare you in.
No matter how you promote your schemes they are addictive and serve no good.

a concious choice for this and other governments

“Addiction measures doubted. Eighty per cent of British Columbians are aware there is a program to help problem gamblers, and yet "few residents are confident of the preventative measures surrounding problem gambling."

This is no surprise. Anyone who fully understands addictions knows the “environmental factor.” The addicted, after self-help, counseling or detox, if placed back into the same environment or located near access to that environment, this will trigger the same response; that being further addiction problems.

Addiction problems come in many forms, but the result is always the same; the addicted and their neighbourhood communities circling the drain slowly…………

All one has to look at is the Main and Hastings street neighbourhood to see the eventual outcome of “an addicted life.”

Ever been to Atlantic City and walked about six blocks from the boardwalk? Quite revealing....

Tinkering with the Odds

I suspect the "decline in agreement that casino gaming is run fairly and honestly" had a lot to do with the fact that the government changed (lowered) the win rates. That meant a lot fewer people were winning.
The odds are already in favour of the house, so tinkering with these odds to make them even more one-sided, coupled with the fact that less money actually goes to charitable causes (instead of general government revenues) just speeds up the process of hoovering money out of players' pockets.
No wonder people are disenchanted with our current government. Let's try making a few decisions that are actually in the interests of British Columbians, shall we?

government revenues

Government revenues are now dependent on gambling. Their ability to run the province is in large part paid for by gambling money so what happens to BC if a majority of people stop gambling? Just like a junkie needs his/her heroine our government needs it's gambling money. A perfect storm is gathering in our country over this issue. Seniors have their nest eggs which they spend at the casinos but what happens when they are tapped out? The younger generations are being held to minimum wage standards and the cost of living keeps going up so they don't have disposable income to spend in casinos. Soon the demographic that supports gambling will drop at which time our government will have to raise taxes to run the country or they can do what Campbell and Harper are doing and just run us deeper into debt. Either way we are on a collision course with poverty.

People will gamble

Just like problem boozers, dopers, etc. Prohibition in the U.S. didn't work, they got booze from Canada, lots of fortunes were made smuggling booze South, Lots of fortunes being made smuggling BC Bud to the South. If we didn't have casinos, everyone would be headed South to native/mob-run casinos in Washington State.
So, gambling is evil. What's new? Try not to get stomped on by the rush of betting patrons at Hastings Park or Cloverdale.
If walking into a casino is an individual choice, why is it the taxpayer's responsibility to deal with the affects ?
The only issue I have with gambling in this province is this corrupt, dishonest government constantly changing the rules for charity funding by BCLC. But then what ISN"T dishonest and corrupt about this government?

Gambling 101: deal with the corruption.

There ought to be a public service announcement on TV. It would have the pictures of the the prime minister and all the provincial premiers on top, with the caption underneath:

"THESE MEN ARE ADDICTED TO GAMBLING"

Using gambling as a means to raise funds is the start of an industry corruption and misery. Yes, people will gamble. but do we need a guvmint that profits from video gaming terminals in public spaces?

I am not in the least surprised that retailers have been caught cheating the lottery systems. Anyone who works in a retail store must suffer boredom. They have hours and hours to think about ways to keep winning tickets, instead of telling their customers they won. Who wouldn't do it?

Who would have thought that casinos would NOT be used for money laundering? What else is new?

So there is a loss of interest in lotteries and gambling. Wow. What a shocker! The next step is that the money-losers are cancelled and the revenue they generated will be raised by increasing taxes.

Casinos belong in places like Las Vegas where only the hardened gamblers go to lose their money. Having one in every city is opening the door to hell for addicts.

Look folks; if you want to raise money, go get a job or start your own business.

(Warning; sarcasm coming up)
To the politicians; if you want to breed corruption, put your wives to work on the streets. You can pimp them out yourselves. They could generate $1,000.00 a night if you work them hard. If they get tired, feed them drugs. When they are burned out, toss them and set your daughters up in The Oldest Profession. There is a market for under-aged girls. If you don't like this idea, don't sell crime to the rest of us either. If you are going to be a whore, be a good whore.

Of course

Gambling 'support' is falling off, after all the segment of society that 'supported' gaming are just now running out of money, and perhaps are realizing you really can't come out ahead, because the odds are simply against you.
As my father-in-law would say when he bought his weekly lotto tickets "time to pay my tax on stupidity". In spite of this knowledge he still kept on buying. Never did win. Just kept on buying.
Sound familiar?
Governments are totally dependent on what they used to jail gangsters for: alchohol, tobacco, gambling, about the only few left would be pot and hookers ...... think it can't happen?? Think again.

Just Imagine!

Yes, just imagine winning a whole lot of money by gambling our government tells us in adds and posters with catchy tunes and smiling faces. You know there is something wrong when the best advise a government can give its people is to go out and gamble. Gambling is a way for criminals to prey on the weak and vulnerable in society, feeding like parasites from those who can least afford it. I guess this is the only thing left for a failing state to do. Once you've sold off all of your public services and pawned in all your resources, the only thing left to do is scrape the bottom of the barrel for scraps.

tips for spending that windfall

Below are some helpful hints on how to spend your gambling winnings wisely;

If you spend the money at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China or Sri Lanka.

If you buy gasoline the money will go to the Arabs.

If you purchase vegetables it will go to Honduras Mexico and Guatemala.

If you buy an efficient car the money will go to Japan or Korea.

If you purchase trinkets the money will go to Taiwan.

If you pay down your credit cards or buy stocks, the money will go for management bonuses and be hidden offshore.

Instead keep the money in Canada by;

Spending at yard sales or

Going to hockey games or

Spending it on a hooker or

Beer or

Tattoos.

(These are the only businesses operating in Canada any longer)

So the conclusion is; go to a hockey game with a tattooed hooker you just met at a yard sale and drink beer all day.

No need to thank me for the assistance……

gambling

You will notice a huge increase in advertising by the lotto corp. now that they see declining revenues. On some tv channels the adds run from when the channel comes on the air until they sign off. Are there no rules ? And I would bet that the Execs are giving themselves pay increases over and above their already gross overcompensation packages now. But heh they are all Gordon Campbells buddies.

YES TO CASINOS!

Enough of the liars pretending to care and not simply coming straight up and saying, "we're xtian and we don;t believe in casinos and everyone should be banned because as a believer I need everyone else to do Exactly like me"

Listen no one is preventing you from migrating to Alberta or one of the praire provinces.

Oh and 100% the majority of opposition to this is from people who do not live in the neighbourhood or even the city of Vancouver.

The poker room is one of the best thing in city.

Vulnerability = Opportunity

I was concerned the other day, when researching the drug Wellbutrin, that at the bottom of the page was an advertisement promoting the B.C. Online Gambling site. This drug is an anti-depressant, used by those suffering from depression. Those suffering from depression face struggle daily and may look to "fixes" to end their misery-booze, illegal drugs, gambling. It made me feel warm and cozy all over that our government saw fit to advertise the gambling site on the medical information site for Wellbutrin. Never miss an opportunity to raise a buck, especially on the backs of the vulnerable !

THE ODDS ARE "You Will Lose"

My only safe bet is that the gamblers lose and the government will steal. If I bet $100 at 100 to 1 odds that the provincial government would lie to me (us) in the next three months I could feed a family of 4 for almost a year on my winnings. So does anyone want to take my bet?

Gambling

No folks are just seeing that it is all crooked and tired of giving away money with little chance of winning at all. Like Lotto Max it ran and first two time it never was won till it hit 50 million and every time it did right away somebody won. This has happened too many times and on top of that with odds being 1 in 2 million of winning any of the extras WOW some how they where all won ever time. Think it was rigged I do you couldn't even watch draws live it all taped now how hard is that to rig. and as far as security being in on anything dirty in my opinion OF course they are

Gambling

One more thing where are the revenues going if are resources and gaming where profits where used properly we wouldn't have people on streets and disabled starving, right now disabled get what welfare folks should get $867 for whole month and they grab back CPP out of it too. that's right your CPP is deducted from that amount so it is useless to you. Oh unless your rich or got money stashed away. try living on that when rents start at 650 a month so $217 to live on for whole month lol I am going to kill myself it easier then being disabled in BC just be dead [THREATENING COMMENT REMOVED. -MODERATOR.]

Conductor274

After a decade of de-industrialization, the government has come to rely on gambling (and alcohol, tobacco - and for all we know BC Bud). Only trouble is, people out of work can play les and less often, in this Best Place on Earth.

As one friend said, Lotto 6

As one friend said, Lotto 6 49, etc., is a tax on the stupid. I think its OK to dream once or twice a year for $20.

Right on pianosaurus rex. "Addiction problems come in many forms, but the result is always the same..." This includes the downtown towers' financiers who can't stop trying to make more money well beyond their own and family needs, and ego driven, power addicted politicians who have lost the notion of trying to govern for the greater good.

Remember those Friday night poker games with, mostly the boys? Now technically illegal but not really enforceable, except at Legions or gaming clubs. $50 (perhaps $100 today) was an evening's entertainment; sometimes you lost, sometimes you won, mostly you broke even depending on your skills and luck. But, for the most part, it was a social event with some bragging rights among buddies.

This is only sometimes so in casinos, certainly not on "one armed bandits" or VLTs and mostly alone on internet sites, govt. or otherwise.

A friend who worked for a while at an offshore internet gambling site ranted to me about what a scam it was. Think-who sees the cards on all the screens, feeds bets, etc.?

That BCLC on line gambling TV commercial is truly disgusting as it invites you to join in person with those beautiful, happy people that really don't exist there at your computer's side. Solitary hell.

Worse yet is any govt. that promotes this mega gambling as a centrepiece of a community and a major revenue source. Those should be voted out ASAP. They are not helpful in the least, regardless of funding causes that need to get support by other means.

I suspect that the gambling decline has more to do with the Great Recession than changes in citizens' awareness and attitudes, but I won't shed tears if the mega casinos fail, although I would like to see most of their employees find other, more wholesome jobs.

Stanley Tromp gives us good investigative journalism

The BC Liberal Government has deceived us on the gaming/gambling file since they took office. Remember their election promise then - NO expansion of gambling if they were elected government. Since then they have doubled their take (from about $500 million to $1 billion), increased the number of casino licenses, doubled the number of slot machines located in all entertainment (sic) venues, cut the funding to non-profits and community groups out of this revenue source, and played loose with the so-called education, prevention and treatment resources available to those with a gambling problem. They have denied the Chief Medical Officer the authority to give statistics on the number of gambling-related suicides and personal bankruptcies (unlike other provinces). On every front their performance has been abysmal. Thanks to good journalism such as Tromp's we may eventually shame these neanderthals into doing the right thing - stop government from being the primary pimp of the gambling world.