Citing warnings issued by the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada about the dangers of Internet gambling, Jeff Leal, a liberal leaning politician in the Ontario Legislature, is seeking to ban online gambling advertisements in his province.

Leal has introduced a bill that would ban online gambling advertisements and used the warnings issued by the center during the debate to introduce the bill. While Internet gambling was the target of Leal’s attack, little mention was made of the traditional gambling venues in the Ontario province, which make a substantial contribution to the Ontario government’s coffers.

Superficially, the motivations for the bill may appear to be altruistic, but this may not entirely be the case. It is well known that the competition from online gambling, such as online casinos and online poker, seriously cuts into the market share of more traditional gambling (as well as permitted) outlets in Ontario. "It is a real factor in the Ontario gaming scene," said David Caplan, the Public Infrastructure Minister.

According to a poll conducted by the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in 2000, 5.3 percent of the adults in Ontario had participated in some form of online gambling.

Posted on: March 2, 2006

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