WINNIPEG – Video lottery terminals, a casino and bingo palaces are proving to be a royal flush for Manitoba government coffers. But the government should consider its hand carefully, according to a recent analysis of the benefits of gambling.
A report by Philippe Cyrenne, an economist at the University of Winnipeg, concludes the lucrative lotteries corporation brings $288 million a year in benefits to government, hotels and consumers.
Between 1993 and 1994, the corporation increased its gambling profits by 43 percent. In March, the government handed down a balanced budget, a feat managed with $386 million from gambling.
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Lottery funds will provide more than $214 million to provincial government programs this year. For example, $14 million will go to rural development projects, close to $24 million will go to infrastructure, $90 million will go to deficit reduction and $20.6 million to health.
However, Cyrenne estimated the social costs of gambling add up to $135 million. This total includes $60 million in lost wages for problem gamblers, $10 million in lost benefits to their families, $46 million that would otherwise be spent at small businesses and $13 million diverted from charitable fundraising.
He used information from the Manitoba Lotteries Corporation and Statistics Canada and found:
- A report commissioned by the government in 1993 showed that as many as 15,000 people in Manitoba are at risk of developing a gambling problem.
- Statistics Canada numbers show that the poor spend a greater proportion of their income on gambling than do the middle class or the rich.
- The average Manitoban gambled more than $400 last year, up from $111 in 1990.
Susan Olynik, spokesperson for the lotteries corporation, said it is reviewing Cyrenne’s report.
Cyrenne said he has been contacted by the chair of a working group asked by the government to look at the effects of gambling, and will meet with the group next month. The group includes 14 people from different sectors of the community. It will report to the government by Oct.1.
