KEVIN NEWMAN: The government of Manitoba announcing a windfall today. Nearly $18 million in revenue from video lottery terminals are going to be used to fund things like libraries and arenas across that province. But this kind of government-sponsored gambling has a darker side to it as well. Here's Global National's Ross Lord.
ROSS LORD (Reporter): The message is familiar.
DON BISHOP (Father of Suicide Victim): They're insidious machines of mass destruction.
We humans are desperately flawed creatures, full of base appetites that cause us no end of guilt and torment.
Thank God there are those who have made it their life mission to save us from ourselves.
But do we really want to be saved? And who is to say our self- appointed saviours have the moral authority to do so?
If you look at the past 8,000 years of human civilization, the answer to both questions would have to be no.
When Problem Gambling Services representative Carolyn Pickett addressed Qualicum Beach council last week, she was planning to present a message about how to avoid gambling addiction.
But council members made no bones about how they feel governments have gambling addictions of their own.
Speaking at the monthly open house meeting Wednesday, Pickett detailed how her service, sponsored by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, works to prevent gambling addiction and to provide counseling to those who do have a problem.
I always thought that Las Vegas was a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't choose to live there. However, with the escalation of gambling facilities in Edmonton, there soon won't be much of a choice.
The latest on the scene is a machine the government calls a video lottery. By definition these mechanical monsters are not lotteries, they are slot machines and should be called such.
Copyright, 2004 by Stephen Katz
Published by AuthorHouse
More information at
http://www.gamblingfactsandfictions.com
Introduction: About the author
