The government should get out of the gambling business

Each of us has money on the line when taxes help prop up this immoral industry

You’d think there would be a little more grumbling about potential changes to the Rideau Carleton Raceway, which would become the Hard Rock Casino Ottawa. The $320-million upgrade could ensure, in our fair town, Hard Rock swag, a bar and 13,000 square metres of gambling space.

Lord, you’d think people would be protesting at the sheer tackiness of the whole thing, in addition to the slew of other concerns here. But since they’re not — way down on Albion Road, this monstrosity is perhaps out of sight and out of mind for most of the people who get worked up about issues in Ottawa — I suppose I’ll be the one to whip it up.

Casinos are loathsome and those who profit off gambling are the basest of predators.

But if you want to throw away your savings, drain your spouse’s bank account and remortgage the house because of the whizbangs of the slots and the thrill of the cards, it doesn’t really affect me.

Where things get a little bit sticky is government involvement.

While I don’t approve of the gambling business, if someone wants to open and run a casino, they should be welcome to do so. When the government begins profiting from the miseries and addictions of others, that’s when there is — or at least should be — trouble. The same applies to the LCBO; there’s nothing wrong with hardworking entrepreneurs selling liquor. However, we have a problem when the government’s messaging is so unclear. All at the same time, the government promotes boozing, through glossy magazines for example, while also preaching about the dangers of lady liquor while also earning more than $1 billion for the province’s coffers off the paycheques of the soused.

In the case of the Rideau Carleton Raceway, the city is expected to make $5.6 million in 2017, since it gets a share of gaming revenue; the Ontario Gaming and Lottery Corp., which advertises “playcations” at its sites, operates a “thrilling experience” consisting of some 1,200 slot machines at the raceway. If the city allows more table games, it will make even more money — and governments can quickly become addicted to new money. So, you and I are conscripted into the current and future casinos, a venture split between Hard Rock International and the raceway, whether we want to be or not.

If there’s a moral taint, we’re all stained once the government gets in on the deal.

Now, a riposte to that is that if a bad thing in society is going to happen, then we may as well collectively profit off that bad thing; this is the argument for cigarette taxes, partly. Anti-smokers believe they’ll force people to quit, with the added benefit of paying for the health care of smokers (and everyone else.)

This is the wrong way to look at it. The best way to avoid the moral hazards of immoral activity is for governments to get out of the business. The Ontario government, through the OLG, is disbursing $93 million to support horse racing in 2016-17.

It also spends nearly $40 million annually on problem gambling. So on one hand, the government doles out funding to maintain gambling, while further spending tax dollars to fight gambling. This is self-evidently an absurd juxtaposition and a waste of money.

There’s a way around this, happily (sort of.) If the government gets out of the gambling business, then, beyond necessary regulations that ensure patrons don’t get food poisoning from the buffet and that there are some winners beyond the house, the rest of us don’t become unwilling participants in this industry of shysters.

Then, we can each spend our own money on blackjack and Hard Rock T-shirts as we see fit, and not have it doled out to an addictive and menacing industry by the government.