Decision Maker Behind BC’s Online Gambling Limits Revealed

Submitted by Gary on Wed, 2010-01-06 at 21:03

Play Now BC Back in August, when the BC government increased its per week online gambling limits from $120 to $9999 on it’s PlayNow website, Minister Rich Coleman claimed that it was his decision to do so. However, a new exposé by The Tyee indicates that he may have exaggerated about his role during the decision making process.

According to an article by Vancouver Province Columnist Michael Smyth, Coleman claimed that he wanted to keep BC gamblers playing at local online casinos, rather than turning towards offshore operators who have high gambling limits. But, recently released documents have revealed that his involvement was an overstatement. In fact, the minister was only informed of the decision five days before the changes were to be implemented.

“The minister should absolutely know, be comfortable and sign off on in”, says Shane Simpson, a critic of the NDP. He believes that Coleman should have actually assumed the role that he claimed to have had. The decision to increase online gambling limit by such a substantial amount is very important, and should be thoroughly overseen by a government official and Simpson believes that “due diligence was never done”.

While the decision has increased revenue earned by online gambling operators, the general public is disappointed that they limit was raised to quickly. Onlookers had hoped that the limit would have been increased slowly, so as to prevent players with gambling problems from getting carried away.