Sunday, September 20, 2009

British Columbia Wants More Gambling Revenue

Click on to enlarge
Weekly Limit Increased To $9,999.00
As BC Chases Gambling Jackpot

British Columbia has the dubious distinction of being the only government in North America to go into the Casino Style Online gaming business.
In what would have been unthinkable ten years ago it seems Gordon Campbell has done a 180 on his opinion of financing a government with the proceeds of gaming.
In a National Post article he is quoted as saying in 1999 “ No new casinos, we don’t want an economy based on losers. There will be no further expansion of gambling. We will try to reduce it.”.
The BC Lottery Corporation previously had a weekly limit of $120 which could be wagered online if you wanted to purchase lottery tickets from the convenience of your computer. This is done through their Play Now website which allows anyone with a credit card to set up an account and buy lottery tickets or play other lottery games such as Keno.
That limit did not seem to be drawing in enough high rollers so the corporation has set about to increase that limit to $9,999.00 per week which can be deposited in a government run E-gambling account which accepts Visa and Mastercard of course.
That means you could put up to $519,948.00 into your gaming account over the course of a year courtesy of the Province of British Columbia.
Soon you will be able to not just buy lottery tickets you will be able to participate in games such as blackjack, roulette and poker, designed for computers and portable devices. Currently you can play a poker-style game with a predetermined outcome but a full-on poker game will be available next spring.
If you are wondering why the limit is set at $9,999.00 rather than an even $10,000.00, it is to avoid reporting to Fintrac. That is Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada which investigates money-laundering, and online poker is a popular way to launder proceeds of crime.
It would seem that simply collecting taxes is not enough to satisfy the monster we have built with the leadership and guidance of our ‘leaders’. We are now going full bore into the gambling business, which is a good compliment for our alcohol and tobacco revenue we are also dependent upon.
How many years before the government is in the BC Bud and escort business?? Impossible you say?? Think again!
Booze and gambling were the types of business guys like Al Capone built their fortunes on. Governments used to go to great lengths and expense to put those guys in jail for such activity. Now we elect people so the same activities are legal.
A line from a movie I recently watched seems quite appropriate for this little topic, “ it may not be illegal, but it is just WRONG “.
Whether things were wrong used to be the basis for the laws of the land but in recent years we have blurred the lines between black and white to the point where everything is now grey.

An example? Gordon Campbell passed a law making it illegal for a government to run a deficit budget. Instead of keeping the law (the right thing to do in a country where the order of law is a cornerstone) he simply changed it. Of course that is all perfectly legal. But is it Right?
So who are 'The Goodguys' these days? It seems no one is wearing a white hat anymore.


allvoices

1 comment:

  1. Yes that's true. No more good guys left. That's a sad reality of our days.

    ReplyDelete

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