The chairman and chief executive officer of the large Canadian-based Woodbine Entertainment Group, David Willmot, has made very clear his position regarding attempts by the provincial government of Ontario to ban online gambling advertising. According to a report by James Christie of the Toronto-based “Globe and Mail”, Willmot wants Woodbine Entertainment, which provides horse-racing for Canadian bettors, to have a fighting chance against offshore Internet gambling companies but the proposed ban would affect the company’s ability to compete.

As reported by the paper, the Ontario legislation in question would ban advertisements for online gambling operations, creating a devastating effect on such companies. The ban would also affect the companies that sell the advertising space for the online gambling companies. These companies include four media outlets as well as four Canadian Football League clubs: Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton and Toronto. All four have an agreement for on-field advertising of gambling sites. The Canadian Football League had ended its agreement with Bowmans Sportsbook and replaced it with an agreement for a non-betting site, Partypoker.net.

“Either throw the [online gambling] field wide open for the domestic gambling industry to participate or enact legislation that will run the foreign-based World Wide Web gambling operations right off the track”. Willmot said while addressing Ontario’s government. “We'd be happy with either scenario," he said. "The scenario I'm not happy with is status quo. We have laws that make online gambling illegal that are not being enforced because the government can't touch those operators.

Willmot continued: “But if we tried to open up a sportsbook, or online casino or poker room, the police would be on our doorstep the next day. They know where we are. Do we support the legislation? Absolutely, because online gambling is illegal. We have laws, but they are not being enforced. So, either you change them or you allow us to compete.”

Commenting on the stand on online gambling adopted by the U.S. which is trying to turn online entertainment form into an issue of morals, Willmot said it is the wrong course of action to follow.

"The gaming genie is out of the bottle”, he added. “Only the United States is trying to make it a moral issue."

Posted on: November 3, 2006

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