“nearly 60% are not at risk”

So that means more than 40% are at risk.

“The balance is made up of

8.7% who are at low risk,
3.7% at moderate risk, and
0.9% can be considered “problem “ gamblers.

That adds up to 13.3%

There are 27+% unaccounted for.

Where is the error?

“B.C. spends $1.50 ( per capita age 18+) of gaming revenue on problem gambling, that’s far below the average across the Country, which is $3.59 per capital”

Sort of normal for this province!!!

We have to pay into our MSP, have to pay for environmental this and that; more user fees.

BUT, hey, we have lower taxes than almost any other province other than Alberta.

Can’t have it both ways.

Start by taking your 649 AD off the Terminal at the LQ Store and Saveon Foods. I buy a 649 Ticket when I feel like it!

From other news on the report Gus:
“27 per cent don’t gamble”

I will give 2 to 1 odds that it wont happen in the next 18 months.

SO I’M FROM OUT OF TOWN AND STAYING AT THE HOTEL, CHECKING OUT THE CASINO AND HAVING A FEW DRINKS AND NEED SOME CASH SO NO CASH MACHINES TO BE FOUND SO I GET IN MY CAR AND DRIVE TO A BANK IN A SNOW STORM. MAKES A LOT OF SENSE TO ME.

Actually Gus BC has a lower income tax rate than even Alberta. Alberta only has a lower rate if you earn more than $127K per year. See at the link below.

http://www.ey.com/CA/en/Services/Tax/Tax-Calculators-2013-Personal-Tax

But I do agree that we have MSP and PST so it’s probably pretty close unless your buying a new truck or something big where the PST will add up.

But how many people are making more than $127K per year? Not too many. I bet it’s less than 20% of all the people in BC.

So they make stupid easy to gamble and then say they don’t have enough money to help with gambling addictions?

That’s like giving away free cigs and then complaining there isn’t enough money to treat cigarette related illnesses.

I have personally witness people lose their mortgage payments, rent money, grocery money, their entire pay cheque and one guy lost $25k in a few hours there.

I don’t agree with removing ATM’s though. Make them all $20 machines. There are ones there you can only take out $100’s. Of course a person isn’t going to take out a $100 and then gamble $20 and head home.

The cow has already left the barn in terms of gambling. It is not going anywhere.

I can gamble from the comfort of my own home if I want. If people want to gamble at a local casino, let them.

The vast majority of people don’t turn into problem gamblers, much like the vast majority don’t turn into problem drinkers although we all have access to alcohol.

The solution is simple folks. Since the money spent on problem gambling comes from gaming revenue, folks in BC need to gamble more in order to have additional money put into problem gambling.

Hmmm, wait a minute, something doesn’t seem right there . . .

interceptor wrote: “From other news on the report Gus: “27 per cent don’t gamble”

From the above report:
“In his report “Lower the Stakes” Dr. Kendall says of those British Columbians who gamble”

I just went by the above report. I figure the report should be internally accurate without have to try to figure what else might influence it.

I know, it is a strange thing. :-)

lol – good catch Gus. I saw the number 27 and thought I had figured it out… I guess those are mystery people :)

gus ask; “There are 27+% unaccounted for. Where is the error?

The answer gus is that 27.1% of BC’s population does not gamble. *See the table on page 39 of the “Lower the Stakes” Report.

http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/pho/pdf/gambling-in-bc.pdf

What is shocking is that the combined moderate risk problem gamblers and the high problem gamblers in BC accounted for only 4.6% of the total population, yet they account for 26.2 % of the gaming revenue generated in this province.

Now we must ask that important question; why would this BC government want to address problem gambling when these moderate to severe problem gamblers account more than a quarter of all gaming revenue?

Why would this province even try to rehabilitate and treat that “cash cow”?

I posted a comment on here about a month ago regarding this BC Liberal Government’s pathetic under-funding of community based non-profit charitable organization.

The original agreement was that 33.3% of annual gaming revenue was to flow back into the local community, of course this Liberal Government reneged on that agreement.

Look at the table on page 17 of the “Lower the Stakes” report, as we can all plainly see, the provincial government portion of gaming revenue (indicated in blue) keeps increasing yet funding to local community governments and charitable organizations remains the same and actually shrinks!

Wow, I think we have a Provincial Liberal Government that has become “ADDICTED” to gaming revenue… how ironic is that???

Another great reason to take my dollars to Las Vegas. I am pretty sure they dont have doctors studying the effects of gambling and if they do they would not post said stats on a news site. They brought gambling to Canada for a reason and that was to generate revenue. Now they are seeing a host of new problems that have developed. At least if you go to Vegas for 3-4 days, I dont believe you are spending the kids milk money. You have decided already how much to gamble and play accordingly. I believe this to be the case in most of the people I have met there.

The BC Gov can say “look at us we have lowered taxes”….all the while increasing user fees. So are the taxes really lower?It’s a game to them.
FYI- If someone is admitted in the UHNBC emergency room for more that 10 hour UHNBC (Northern Health) will get a million dollar fine deducted from the operating budget.

willy: “You have decided already how much to gamble and play accordingly.”

99% of gamblers do. What we don’t need is to move towards People#1’s Utopia of having a nanny state where the government needs to step in and lower everything to the lowest common denominator and save everyone from themselves, even though the majority don’t require it.