Canada Online Gambling News

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It was about six months ago when Saskatchewan minister Ken Cheveldayoff had indicated that the Canadian province was considering venturing into online gambling. This week the government owned land gambling operator Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation has said pretty much the same thing. In its financial report the corporation has indicated that Saskatchewan may join British Columbia and Quebec and set up legalized and regulated online gambling.

The call for online gambling has been renewed in the wake of a not so satisfactory financial performance from the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation. Though the corporation has recorded a net income of Cdn$43 million in 2010, this was about 15% below target after a slow start in the early part of the year and a 53-day labor dispute. Net revenue for the year was also down by about Cdn$7.8 million from the previous year. The report said that the casino revenues should be maintained in 2011, but the company's outlook for the future without the induction of online gaming looks bleak.

However Cheveldayoff, the minister responsible for the Corporation, cautioned that as of now Saskatchewan was only studying the issue and it was too soon to say if the province would enter the online gambling arena. He added, "We won't be a leader in this area but at the same time we'll have to look and see what's happening and be cognizant of it taking place in our province today. What troubles me is that the profits are leaving the province and can't be reinvested in the good activities that the gaming corporation does."

The other online gambling news from Canada concerns the embarrassing launch of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation's (BCLC) online gambling operator Playnow. Last year the Playnow online casino had to shut down within a day after its launch due to a serious security breach in its software. Last month Scott Norman, a senior Corporation I.T. executive, resigned from the organization. The Vancouver Sun insinuated that Norman was the "point person on IT matters" during the security breach crisis and that his departure signaled that he was responsible for allowing the breach to take place.

However, a BCLC spokesperson denied this allegation stating that Norman's departure had "absolutely no connection" to Playnow's launch issues. However, he refused to elaborate on Norman's responsibilities with the company. Norman has also given up his position with the Gaming Standards Association in British Columbia. The association's executive director Michelle Olesiejuk explained this by saying, "He resigned his position at his current company and – if you're not employed by a GSA member company – you can no longer hold the position of a board member." Norman himself was not available for comment.

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