Ottawa is in line to get a casino after city council approved a motion that expressed interest in a new gaming facility somewhere in the city limits.
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes, while voting for the motion, expressed concern over the potential costs such a facility will bring and what she says is the “minute amount of money” that will be re turned to the community.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation gives a certain percentage of its revenue back to its casino’s host communities. These funds go towards community supports, primarily through Local Health Integration Networks.
“There is a gambling addiction in this city,” Holmes said. And Ottawa needs more support from the OLG to deal with the public health costs of gaming facilities.
Holmes added that she has reservations about the process.
The gaming corporation can now put out a request for proposals and decide on the site of the casino. Council does not have the final say in what site will be approved.
And while there are a few location ideas floating around – such as expanding the Rideau Carleton Raceway or building a gaming facility near Scotiabank Place – no one knows where the casino will be located, its size and its impacts on the community.
“We’re going on faith here,” Holmes said. “We’re going forward somewhat blinded.”
Supporters including Mayor Jim Watson say such a project would benefit the city through increased tourism, jobs and economic revenue, but members of the public and community organizations say they’re wary of building a new gaming facility in Ottawa.
Dallas Smith, an addictions counsellor at the Centretown Community Health Centre, says gambling addictions can be very serious for individuals and for their families.
“The consequences of problem gambling are usually, unfortunately, very extreme. Part of it is people get caught up in the cycle of gambling. Losing and chasing their losses,” Smith says. “Going back, hoping to regain everything that they’ve lost.”
A new casino would not necessarily increase rates of addictions in the city, Smith says. This would ultimately depend on where the facility is built, how easy it is to get there and what sort of games are available.
But Smith notes that gambling has strong links to health problems. In his daily work, he sees clients with blood pressure issues, back pain, depression and anxiety – all linked to gambling.
Not only that, Smith says, “severe problem gamblers often get to the point where it becomes quite desperate” and can turn to violence to get money.
“Usually when someone seeks help for problem gambling they’re in a really critical state.”
Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans was one of the five city councillors to vote against the motion. Nineteen councillors voted in approval.
“This was a major decision for our community and it should be an evidence-based decision,” Deans says.
Instead, she says, council is approving a motion without proper data or research about the effects of gaming facilities and what impact one would have on the city.
“I don’t think that you make a decision first and then get the evidence later. That seems very backwards in terms of a process,” she says. “There are definite links between the proximity of gambling facilities and the number of people who end up with gambling addictions.
“I just feel like this is a significant community decision and it should be made with all of the information and knowledge available to us.”
Robert Murray, from the Canadian Association for Mental Health’s Problem Gambling Institute, says building gambling facilities is something communities need to take into careful consideration.
“When a casino opens, the population in the immediate environment of that casino oftentimes does end up gambling more,” Murray says. “And as the community thinks about this they need to consider not only the revenue generation and jobs, those positive things that come from the development of a new gambling facility, but also the fact that gambling is a risky behaviour.”