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Gambling 'Here to Stay': McGuinty2 November 2004TORONTO -- As reported by the Canadian Press: "Gambling in Ontario is here to stay, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday, despite a report showing problem gamblers contribute more than one third of the province's gambling revenues. "'There's no doubt about it, we have come to rely on gambling revenue,' McGuinty said before a caucus meeting. "Ontario pulls in about $4 billion a year in gambling revenues. "The report was funded by the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre, an arms-length agency created by Ontario's Health Ministry. "It shows that the province gets 35 per cent of its gaming revenues from problem gamblers, which make up about five per cent of the gaming population. "But the study points out that the province only spent $36 million last year on trying to prevent gambling addictions and treating them. That's less than three per cent of the $1.4 billion the study estimates made from problem gamblers. "The study says if the province is going to continue with government-sponsored gambling it needs to look at increasing what it spends on preventing addictions..." |