Paying the gambling debts of others - From the Cluttered Desk with Keith Roulston
When I turn on the TV in the morning it seems like every second advertisement is for some sort of lottery. Then I read Shawn’s eye-opening editorial in last week’s Citizen.
The editorial was based on reporting in the Toronto Star that, in the 2024-2025 year, $82 billion was wagered with nearly $3 billion going to the province. Preliminary data for 2025-2026 shows the figure increasing by 25 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Star reports, the province’s chief coroner reported emergency department visits for gambling disorders have doubled, insolvencies involving gambling have more than tripled and suicides have increased.
Meanwhile, recently, the Lottomax lottery offered a $90 million prize and for days before the prize was awarded, people talked about what they would do if they won. As if winning $90 million was that much different than winning $25 million - or even $10 million.
It’s hard to believe but there was no legal lottery before Expo 67 in Montreal. They started the lottery to help pay for hosting the World’s Fair as part of Canada’s centennial.
My father used to buy one ticket for each lottery - but only one.
To the best of my memory, I have never bought a lottery ticket. My introduction to gambling began in high school when we played poker on the back seat of the bus. I seldom won and when I lost I immediately tried to make up for my losses by playing more. It wasn’t long, as I watched my hard-earned money disappear, before I pledged to never gamble again.
But the success of the Olympic lottery got other governments interested. More and more lotteries were invented. As I said, the result is that the province gains $3 billion.
As I watch all those gambling ads on TV, I confess I don’t think often enough about all the government services gambling money is helping pay for. But then I read about all the people who suffer from gambling addictions, and even commit suicide, and I realize these people are saving me taxes.
Few of us like paying taxes, so the money the government earns from gambling saves other taxes. The Ontario government cancelled the yearly licence fee on my car. Quite frankly, I’d rather pay for my licence and know I was saving people from gambling.
One of the vacations that many people like is a trip to Las Vegas, which was built on gambling. Me, I prefer to ignore the garish lights and the slot machines and save my money.
Many years ago when I still served on the board of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association, the annual meeting of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association was held just across the border in Gatineau. We had dinner in the casino, upstairs overlooking all the gambling below us. I have no idea how many dollars my fellow publishers might have left behind. It was hard enough keeping a small-town newspaper alive that I didn’t waste any of my hard-earned dollars.
But there’s something about gambling that attracts humans. We’re dreamers and we imagine what life could be - even if we already live a good life. That’s why people rush out and buy tickets when the Lottomax reaches $90 million.
But it’s that growing number of people who are seeking treatment for gambling addiction that I pay attention to. We have enough illness in this world without making it worse by inventing new ones. How much of the $3 billion profit the province makes from hosting gambling, goes back into treating addicts? I suppose it’s no different than all the people we’re treating for alcohol addiction while the Liquor Control Board of Ontario brings in about $2.5 billion in profit for the province.
Really, I suppose, someone like me should be grateful for the addicts to gambling and alcohol for saving me money. In my old age, the Ontario government is picking up my medical costs, whereas south of the border more and more citizens are having to pay for medical treatment, while taxes on billionaires like Elon Musk are reduced.
It’s ironic that we got universal health care about the same time in the 1960s that we got the Olympic Lottery.
Still, I’d prefer to pay for costs that I incur rather than live off the profits of gambling addiction. The people who, like my dad, bought a single lottery ticket and dreamed how it could better his life if he won are one thing. The people who dream of winning the $90-million Lottomax lottery are something else.
I don’t know how we put a cap on spending on gambling. I just know that we’re digging ourselves a deeper hole that will swallow up people who could be addicted. There’s no free lunch. Non-gamblers like me are living off the dreams and addictions of lottery players.