NB Telegraph-Journal | Provincial News As published on page A1/A2 on October 7, 2005
Smoking ban blamed for drop in VLT revenues Loss in the millions of dollars is the first decline in recent memory!
By Kathy Kaufield
Telegraph Journal
Anti-VLT crusader Tim Smith and the smoking ban are being blamed for the significant drop in video gambling revenues this years.
Finance Minister Jeannot Volpé said Thursday the money New Brunswickers are plugging into video lottery terminals is down by at least "a few million" dollars in the first half of the fiscal year.
"The money this time is lower than what was expected for the first time in many, many, many, many years," he said.
Neither the minister nor his department officials said they could provide any specific figures until the end of the fiscal year, but Mr. Volpé categorized the drop as "quite a bit."
Net VLT receipts in New Brunswick have been on the rise for the past four years, with revenues topping out at $143 million during the 04/05 fiscal year. In 2001-02, VLT receipts came in at $113 million and increased to $119 million the next year. Receipts jumped to $136 million in 2003-04 when the province added new machines.
Mr. Volpé suggested the recent media attention to gambling addiction may be one of the reasons.
During the last legislative session, Saint John resident Tim Smith staged two hunger strikes in front of the legislature in a bid to raise public awareness about VLT addiction and to push the province for changes to its VLT policy.
Atlantic Lottery Corporation spokesperson Darlene Doucet said Thursday the corporation can't explain the sudden turnaround in VLT revenue.
She guessed that it could be related to the province's ban last fall on smoking in public places or on the recent hike in gas prices.
She said New Brunswick bar owners have told the corporation their VLT revenues have dropped by about 20 per cent since the smoking ban last October.
Ms. Doucet said in other jurisdictions where smoking was banned, VLT revenue has dropped for the first six months and then bounced back. New Brunswick hasn't seen that bounce back after six months.
"There's no real way of knowing why," she said.
Ms. Doucet said soaring gas prices have left many people with less money in their pockets to spend on lottery tickets and VLT machines.
She said Newfoundland bar owners are also reporting a 20 per cent drop in VLT revenue. That province implemented a smoking ban last year too.
New Brunswick's finance department is in the midst of reviewing its entire gambling policy, including discussions on VLTs and racinos.
Mr. Volpé said the review of the VLT policy is complete and he said the province may not change it.
"To tell you the truth, we've got a fairly good structure already in New Brunswick," he said
"Maybe we will keep what we've got already have in place."
The minister said the review is still on-going in terms of its stance on racinos and casinos.
"Bingos and racinos and all those that are a little more challenging I would say.
"We are not there yet for those ones," he said.
Mr. Smith pushed the province to limit playing hours or reduce the number of VLTs.
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Newfoundland announced a plan this spring that would reduce the number of VLTs in the province by 15 per cent over five years.
Quebec is removing more than 2,500 VLTs from neighbourhood bars and putting them into centralized gaming parlours.
Meanwhile, the Ontario government has imposed a moratorium on casino expansion, British Columbia has said it won't put VLTs in bars and lounges, and Alberta has set a goal to reduce the number of locations with VLTs up to 15 per cent.
In Nova Scotia, the provincial government has said it plans to reduce the number of VLTs and their hours of operation, but is not considering an outright ban.
Manitoba seems to be moving in the other direction, with recent plans to add to its stock of VLTs.
- with files from Canadian Press
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