Casino expansion opposition grows

Addiction experts warn of consequences

If it were up to the city’s Board of Health, casino expansion in Ottawa would not move forward. That much was clear at Monday night’s board meeting.

A week earlier, staff with the city’s public health unit released a report warning of the negative health consequences likely to follow expanded gambling opportunities in the city.

At the meeting, staff went through the details, saying there are already at least 13,000 people in Ottawa suffering from some form of gambling addiction, with 2,000 of those being extreme cases.

Sherry Nigro, the unit’s manager of health promotion and disease prevention, told the board that of those people, only about 280 will seek help.

If gambling is expanded, she said, “The problem will be exacerbated.”

City councillor Diane Holmes, who chairs the committee, said she was won over by the report. Although she initially voted in favour starting the process of casino expansion, she will now vote against going any further.

“We can’t even deal with the number of people who have a problem with gambling now, much less if we increase the situation so that there are more gambling opportunities.”

Board member Gisèle Richer, who was vice-chair of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. from 1975 to 1980, was more emphatic.

“For God’s sake,” she told her fellow board members, “don’t give them another opportunity to go and gamble!”

Seven public delegations also spoke to the board, none in favour of expansion.

Jeff Morrison, president of the Centretown Community Health Centre, told the board that the impact would be felt most by the city’s most vulnerable residents.

“The key question we must ask is, as a city, are we prepared to simply ignore these people, throw them under the bus in pursuit of a new gambling facility whose economic benefits are questionable at best?”

Paul Welsh, who runs the Rideau- wood Addiction and Family Services, which treats problem gamblers, told the board he was against expansion of gambling in the city. He noted that government funding for his gambling treatment program has been static for 17 years, despite the growth of access to gambling.

His take on the impact was different from Morrison’s.

“The profile of a gambler is a smart, ambitious, high-achieving person,” he said, explaining that they often feel they will be the exceptional person capable of beating the house.

The fact that most board members are against expansion won’t, on its own, affect the final decision to be made by city council. The next step is a debate at finance committee next week on the idea of having two casino sites.

Mayor Jim Watson has already reached out to Premier Kathleen Wynne for permission to do that.

During a telephone conversation between the two offices she “indicated she would try to provide clarity on the issues prior to the (committee meeting),” according to George Young, the mayor’s senior adviser for communications and operations.