It鈥檚 relatively easy to calculate the revenues from gambling in sa国际传媒 It鈥檚 more difficult to measure the costs, but they are steep. The sa国际传媒 government collected nearly $1.25 billion from commercial gambling in the 2014-15 fiscal year, according to a handy chart on the government鈥檚 website. Of that total, $134.8 million went to nonprofit community organizations, $95.8 million to local governments that host casinos, $9.3 million to the horse-racing industry, $13.5 million to operate the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, $5.9 million to responsible-gambling education and problem-gambling services and $147.3 million to the Health Special Account to support health-care services and research.
The rest 鈥� $829 billion 鈥� went into the province鈥檚 consolidated revenue fund, primarily to support health care and education.
The chart makes no mention of Elfriede Lippa, now 91 and suffering from dementia. Over the past several years, she gambled away nearly $300,000 鈥� all her savings and the equity in her home.
The chart makes no mention of homes lost, careers ruined and families fractured by problem gambling. The majority of those who gamble are not addicts. A 2015 sa国际传媒 Finance Ministry report notes that the problem gambling rate has decreased since 2008, to 3.3 per cent from 4.6 per cent.
That addicts are only a small percentage of the gambling population is of little comfort to Lippa鈥檚 family; for them, the hurt is deep.
There are undoubtedly many other Elfriedes in sa国际传媒, whose gambling problem has caused heartbreak to one degree or another. Gambling often attracts those who can least afford to risk their money; it offers hope to people who are feeling hopeless.
It is mighty thin hope. Commercial gambling is built on the simple principle that the majority of people who gamble will lose. In the long term, the house always wins.
A few professional gamblers know how to win. An infinitesimal percentage of gamblers hit big jackpots, yet they get the most attention. The vast majority of people who gamble toss their money in and never see it again.
For those to whom gambling is entertainment, and who know the price of that entertainment, that鈥檚 OK. It鈥檚 their right and it鈥檚 their money.
Lippa鈥檚 story raises troubling questions: Should financial institutions have given a conventional mortgage, a reverse mortgage and a second mortgage to an 85-year-old? Should the View Royal Casino have intervened when Lippa was losing thousands a month? Should the government do more?
Hindsight says someone should have noticed the warning signs, but the answers are not simple.
Rights to personal privacy do not disappear with age. In most situations, it is illegal to discriminate because of age. We cannot, on one hand, encourage seniors to be independent, and then, on the other, tell them how to run their lives.
The sa国际传媒 Lottery Corp. plans to build a second casino in the capital region, and Victoria won the bid to host that casino.
Let鈥檚 leave aside, for now, the discordant image of a casino among the region鈥檚 internationally known attractions (it has been touted as a 鈥渢ourism opportunity鈥�) and look at the numbers. The new facility is expected to generate revenues of $30 million to $45 million a year, of which Victoria will get $1.8 million to $2.5 million.
But no one has made negative effects of gambling part of the equation. Those costs are not easily computed, but they are all too easily incurred.
