31-Oct-08. Social benefits make bingo a great gamble. Calgary Herald, B6.

This article focuses on the social aspects of bingo in the City of Calgary. The bingo industry in the city is suffering a recession despite the economic boom of the past few years and the increase in the number of seniors – the game’s biggest demographic. Only five bingo halls are left in Calgary which is down from more than 20 in the early 1990s.

31-Oct-08. Bingo an unlucky bet in face of competition. Calgary Herald, B1.

Revenues from Alberta’s bingo industry have been declining steadily and a number of halls have closed across the province over the past few years. In 2006-07, revenues from bingo events that went to charities was $30-million, down from $50-million six years earlier, according to the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission. Garry Smith, gambling research specialist at the Alberta Gaming Research Institute, says other forms of gambling such as VLTs and online gambling are more appealing to younger gamblers than bingo.

27-Oct-08. Responsible gambling programs honoured. Red Deer Advocate, B1.

Red Deer’s Capri Centre, Bashaw Commercial  Hotel and Olds Hotel are among 129 recipients of the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission’s sixth annual VLT Responsible Gambling Awards program. The program helps employers and employees understand how they can provide assistance to customers who may have a gambling problem, in the form of support and referrals.

24-Oct-08. Lottery issues plea for boost in ticket sales. Edmonton Journal, B4.

Organizers of Edmonton’s Caritas Hospitals Lottery are making a last-ditch appeal for the public to support the fundraising initiative. About 20,000 tickets, or 46 per cent, remain unsold this fall with the November 9 deadline looming. Caritas health care facilities are government funded, but lottery proceeds have been used to pay for extras such as minimal invasive surgical suites, intensive care equipment, and upgrades to palliative care and labour and delivery facilities.

21-Oct-08. Casino kingpin once took the Fifth 37 times. National Post, AL11.

This article describes the life of professional gambler Lefty Rosenthal who died on Monday at the age of 79. Rosenthal’s fourteen year career as a Las Vegas sports gambler was at the centre of Nicholas Pileggi’s 1995 book Casino and the subsequent film of the same name. He began his career as a horse player, oddsmaker and sports bettor in Chicago, where his non-violent but illegal enterprises were protected by mobsters. His testimony in front of a Congressional subcommittee on gambling and organized crime was notable in that he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself 37 times, refusing to answer the simplest questions, including whether he was left-handed.

17-Oct-08. Music download offer hits sour note. Globe and Mail, A3.

A proposal by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation to provide free music downloads to online gamblers has angered critics who suggest that young people are being targeted. In British Columbia, players who log on to the PlayNow.com website must be 19 and there is a $120 per week spending  limit. It is estimated that about 23 million people use the Internet to gamble, spending between $7-billion and $10-billion a year, according to a report prepared by the B.C. Centre for Social Responsibility.

10-Oct-08. Race track deal still underway. Red Deer Advocate, A10.

Lacombe County officials and the backers of the proposed Alberta Downs race track and entertainment centre are still working to put together a development agreement. Plans for the facility near Highway 2 and Highway 12 include a track, enclosed grandstand and an entertainment centre with up to a maximum of 150 slot machines. Lacombe County coucil gave second reading in April to a pair of bylaws laying the regulatory groundwork for the facility.

8-Oct-08. Seven seconds separates man from millions. Globe and Mail, A3.

Joel Ifergan is suing Loto-Québec for $13.5-million, saying that a time lag in the corporation’s computers cost him his share of a $27-million prize. Ifergan bought what he thought was a winning lottery ticket one night at 8:59 p.m., but it was processed and printed only after the draw’s dealine at 9 p.m. Loto-Québec technicians have admitted to a delay of eight to ten seconds between the request of a lottery ticket and the processing time in Loto-Québec’s central computer.

7-Oct-08. Human error blamed after scratch-and-win lottery ticket deemed a loser. National Post, A6.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation has determined that a winning scratch-and-win ticket was wrongly deemed a loser as a result of human error. An OLG investigation was conducted and it determined that the clerk first validating the ticket entered the wrong four-digit validation code before putting it in the computer.

7-Oct-08. Atlantic City may delay casino smoking ban. Globe and Mail, B12.

Atlantic City may delay the start of a blanket ban on smoking in casinos due to recent economic turbulence. The new law allows casinos to set up enclosed, ventilated smoking lounges that would be unstaffed but smoking would be banned on gambling floors. The ban, opposed by casino owners but supported by workers, was originally approved in April.