The province must walk a fine line between business and addiction when it comes to gambling.
While it’s good news from a business perspective that government-run casinos are filled with people, it might not be ideal when considering gambling’s addictive reality.
On Thursday night, Charles Kaplit was awarded with $5,000 for being the 10 millionth person to walk into Casino Moose Jaw.
“We’ve been 15 years in operation now and this was a way for us to give back to just give back to our valued patrons,” said Shanna Schulhauser with the SaskGaming.
In 2016 and 2017, Casino Regina and Casino Moose Jaw brought in a total of 3 million guests – an average year-to-year trend for the gambling centres.
But 3 million people a year can seem like a high number, especially considering the two cities have a combined population of around 270,000 people. Gaming Minister Christine Tell says the high numbers come from visitors to the city and that Saskatchewan is not facing a gambling addiction issue.
“Our gambling rate in Saskatchewan is comparable right across the country,” Tell told CTV News on Friday. “We don’t have an excessive gambling issue. We have a lot of guests that are primarily made up of tourists.”
NDP MLA Carla Beck says there isn’t enough funding to determine the status of gambling addiction in the province.
“What we saw in the last budget by this government was cutting four positions,” Beck said. “At one point, there were five positions for people within the casinos, people who identified problem gamblers. I think it might be difficult to assess the situation if you simply don’t have the people in place to be making those assessments.”
While it is unclear whether Saskatchewan has a traditional gambling problem, the Canadian Mental Health Association says residents do have a problem with gambling online and through social media.
“There is an increase in the participation of gambling, especially among the youth and those in their 30’s and early 40’s in the area of gaming online or using apps and other games and social media,” David Jones, former coordinator of the gambling awareness program at CMHA said.
Jones added that virtual gambling could be even more dangerous than the traditional type.
“When it comes to online, that’s a very private affair,” he said. “People tend to be down in their basements or in their rooms and in the living room, wherever they keep their computer and they can access it at any time.”
People that are facing gambling addictions, whether traditional or virtual, are advised to contact an addictions counsellor..
Based on a report by CTV Regina's Brittany Rosen
