Herald Column: Legalize Online Gambling

I neglected to post this over my vacation, so here it is, my Calgary Herald column on why we should legalize online gambling:

 

We are now confronted with two poor options in how best to address the issue of internet gambling.
On the one hand, we have provinces like B.C. and Ontario who have at least acknowledged the folly of prohibition. However, their response is to try and create a monopoly which cannot possibly be sustained.
B.C recently launched its own gambling website, but a litany of problems led to the site being shut down only hours after going live. Ontario, meanwhile, will launch its own website in 2012.
Given the problems in B.C., and a broader government failure in competing with the private sector, those who play at the popular and established websites are unlikely to patronize the websites run by provincial regulators.
 It would be akin to launching governmentapprovedpornography.com in the hopes of coalescing all internet porn use under a single state-run website. Connoisseurs of such content would, I’m sure, be underwhelmed by such a venture and would likely not abandon their usual sources.
When it comes to gambling we typically see government monopolies pay out far less than their private equivalents. In the US the take from state lotteries, for example, is about 30 per cent versus the five per cent take typical at most large casinos.
Here in Alberta, a 2007 Edmonton Journal investigation found that the provincially-run Sports Select paid out only about 53 per cent of the money it took in compared with the 94 per cent paid out by Las Vegas bookmakers.
If we are prepared to finally accept that consenting adults are – and should be - free to patronize gambling websites, a far better solution is regulation and oversight of what already exists.
There are many responsible and legitimate gambling websites which would be more than happy to set up shop, so to speak, in Canada and play by our rules. Rather than hoping to derive revenue from a sub-par government website, we could tax profits and individuals’ winnings from existing sites.
The misguided embraced of a provincial online gambling monopoly, though, is the least worst of the aforementioned two options.
The other is the continued embrace of prohibition.
With Alberta considering whether to follow the lead of B.C. and Ontario, voices in support of prohibition are loudly saying ‘no’.
The prohibitionists frequently pop up and trumpet ominous stats about problem gambling on the internet and then promptly place their heads back firmly in the sand. How can a problem be both real and hypothetical at the same time?
The fact that we have statistics to analyze in the first place tells us that whatever problems are associated with online gambling are problems we are already confronted with.
It’s hard to see how forcing the activity underground and relying on periodic surveys to illustrate a vague idea of its extent is an effective response.
But even the worst statistics and scenarios show that the vast majority of online gamblers to not have a serious gambling problem. And prohibition is not helping those that do.
A 2008 study from the University of Western Ontario and University of Nevada at Las Vegas recommended governments put rules in place for online gambling.
For example, losses and time played could be closely monitored. Financial limits could be enforced, as could age restrictions.
Legalizing online gambling may then be a better way to protect problem gamblers. It provides the added benefit of respecting the freedoms of responsible adults.
We should not need the state to protect us from ourselves and override our own financial decisions. Nor should it dictate what we do in the privacy of our own homes.
Bars and lounges have mandated closing times, and servers are required to ensure that patrons are not consuming more than they should. By the rationale of the internet gambling prohibitionists, we should then be forbidden to drink at home where alcohol is available around the clock and no one is there to tell you to stop.
When opponents of online gambling say Alberta should not follow the lead of B.C. and Ontario, they’re half-right: government should get out of the way altogether.