Another Canadian Province Considers
The online casino gambling industry in Canada is rapidly developing into a very
strong and regulated industry despite the government’s refusal to nationally
regulate the pastime. Now that internet gambling is seen as an eventuality by so
many nations all over the world, the Canadian provinces have announced their
plans to individually regulate various sectors of the industry – including
internet lotteries, online casinos, forms of betting, and poker. The latest
province to announce the consideration of new internet gambling laws is
Manitoba, Canada. Manitoba’s officials are in the consideration phase and are in
no way promising that legalized internet gambling is coming to the province, but
did not that they are looking into the possibilities.
Steve Ashton, the Lotteries Minister for Manitoba, has formally announced that
the online casinos are on the provinces agenda right now. He also noted,
however, that there were plans to thoroughly look into all of the implications
of a legalized internet gambling industry before making any decision. Ashton
emphasized that it could take until the end of the year before the Manitoba
officials were ready to make any sort of decisive action one way or the other.
On the docket for consideration though is a state-run online casino gambling
site that works in addition to what is already on offer from the offshore
industry. The state run site would offer gamblers the opportunity to knowingly
gamble at a safe and secure site with protections in place for underage and
problem gamblers.
That’s the key motivating force behind Manitoba’s possible decision to launch a
state run online casino betting and gambling site, to offer a safe alternative
to what’s already on the market. There has been talk that the government could
potentially work with other provinces on this, but it’s all speculation at this
point. |