Carl DeLine

Critics assail plan to expand electronic gambling in bars

The poor and middle class will lose big and Alberta will become “Las Vegas north” when the province is flooded with video gambling terminals, critics charged Thursday.

Lottery Minister Ken Kowalski announced that after a stunningly successful nine-month experiment with video slot machines, a permanent network of 8,600 will be installed–primarily in bars.

“What a tragedy this is,” said Carl DeLine, director of the Calgary youth employment project called The Back Door.

“I don’t know how to express the emptiness inside of me… when I think of a society that depends on gambling and welfare for its social safety net,” he added.

Kowalski defended the scheme to make video lottery terminals (VLTs) a permanent feature.

“There are just a whole lot of people out there who enjoy themselves gaming on these machines,” he said.

Gamblers fed more than $10 million into the 170 electronic slots placed at selected bars during the experiment, which concluded last fall. The VLTs offer eight games including blackjack, bingo and poker.

Kowalski said he found no opposition to the experiment and his department officials estimate that 8,600 machines will generate $40 million in gross earnings in the 1992/93 fiscal year.

Since last July the machines have produced $2 million net profits that will go to finance sport, recreation, community recreation centres and some health projects, Kowalski said.

However, Percy Wickman (Liberal Edmonton Whitemud) said Kowalski should have polled Albertans to see if they wanted the province turned into “Las Vegas north” before taking such a serious step.

“Gambling just goes on and on and on and on here,” Wickman said. “We have to take a pause and get public input about whether Albertans want this province to be another Nevada.”

ND critic Barry Pashak (Calgary Forest Lawn) said the majority of bingo, casino and VLT players are poor, yet most of the money goes to support golf courses and other projects used by the upper middle class and rich.

“It is a tax on the poor, and the money is used to support the recreation of the upper-income people,” Pashak said.

Psychologist Larry Fong said he’s concerned because alcohol removes normally sober inhibitions against gambling.

“They’ll take the money they won from the machine, cash it out and either get more money to put back in the machine or they’ll get more liquor,” said Fong, who is president of the Psychologists Association of Alberta.

The VLTs will add to the stress on the family, he said, and suggested Kowalski initiate an educational program for VLT users which emphasized discipline.

Roy Farran, Alberta Racing Commission chairman, said he fears VLTs will suck up the limited pool of gambling dollars, cutting into race-track bets.

Bars will handle the bulk of the VLT business, but they may appear in other outlets–as yet unidentified outlets, said a government news release.

The province estimates it will take up to three years before the full network of machines is installed.

Originally published March 13, 1992 by the Calgary Herald (Calgary, AB), credited to Bob Beaty. A version of this article was published March 13, 1992 by the Red Deer Advocate (Red Deer, AB).