More slot machines mean more problems
The issue of how and why, exactly, the nascent Rocksino is going to have hundreds more slot machines than councillors expected isn’t just about (at best) miscommunication down at city hall, but about the social damage these machines can do.
The gist of the politicking is that, last week, Ottawans (and councillors) discovered that the 1,250-slot machine limit some councillors thought had been imposed on the casino expansion actually didn’t exist, and instead there are going to be 2,000 of them.
The gist of the social issue is that slot machines are monstrously evil and so it’s a pertinent question why, exactly, the joint Rideau Carleton Raceway and Hard Rock International facility would want 750 more, why the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. would allow 750 more and why Mayor Jim Watson is so nonchalant about it.
(For what it’s worth, the number of slots is the gaming commission’s decision. But the city had asked the OLG to respect its slot machine cap, even if it hadn’t officially used zoning to establish a limit. OLG reportedly had agreed, but after a September 2017 council vote to confirm the casino expansion, with Hard Rock International as the operator, the OLG was apparently told by the city that the limit no longer existed.)
So yeah, there’s something amiss down on Laurier Avenue. But the bigger concern is gamblin’ and its virtues — or lack thereof — and what this means for Ottawa.
Problem gambling in Ontario, according to 2013 research, sits at between one and slightly over two per cent of the adult population. It also says the average household in Ontario spends around $1,000 annually on gambling in all forms — hardly an insignificant sum. And — shocker — what correlates with higher rates of problem gambling? The availability of electronic gaming machines (which includes both video lottery terminals and slot machines).
Now, about one-fifth of Ontarians play an electronic gaming machine each year. The Responsible Gaming Council, a problem gambling prevention non-profit, says that in 2005 non-problem gamblers spent $58 monthly on the slots at casinos. Severe problem gamblers spent around $1,300 a month. (I struggled to find more up-to-date numbers broken down in that fashion, but the 2013 report finds a mean expenditure of all slot machine gamblers at around $46 monthly.)
Now, for the severe problem gamblers in Ontario — who have spent about 21 per cent of their income on gaming — nearly 67 per cent played slots. It’s hard to say with what frequency, since problem gamblers tend to spread their spending across game types. But the point is slots obviously play a big role in problem gambling.
Nationally, slot machines have accounted for 80 per cent of the money earned from gambling. They’re also an equal opportunity predation scheme for those in the gaming business: Men and women play the slots at roughly similar rates, while — other than bingo — gambling tends to trend male.
These figures might explain the desire to have more of them at the Rocksino. (I asked Hard Rock International for an interview on the expansion, but never heard back from the Zimmerman Agency, which does their casino PR.)
Oh — Ottawa stands to make $12.8 million each year, according to Hard Rock International, thanks to the casino expansion. That the city will get, if not quite dirty money, well-sullied money, seems not to be factored into the lust for gold.
It’s obviously too early to tell what, if any, the social costs of 2,000 slot machines will be in Ottawa. Maybe nothing; maybe we’ll buck the trends and everyone will happily play and not develop or exacerbate problems.
Then again, maybe not. Councillors, Hard Rock and the OLG still have some explaining to do over the 750 additional machines. People are free to build casinos, gamble in them and the city gets to profit — but let’s not pretend gambling is anything other than a cursed industry, predatory, behind all that glamour.