Correction regarding Alberta situation

[jetset]

I can't find it at present, but there was a news item here at CM on the Canadian province of Alberta studying online gambling possibilities recently which has just been corrected by the provincial authorities. For the record, here's the true situation:

ALBERTA NOT CONSIDERING ONLINE GAMBLING (Update)

Media overplayed my comments says spokeswoman

An Alberta Gaming spokesman has corrected earlier statements from the organisation and says the province is not considering the introduction of Internet gambling as suggested in recent media reports.

Spokeswoman Marilyn Carlyle-Helms says the media has overplayed her comments by suggesting that Alberta is now making a decision on whether to allow online gaming. She said that online gambling is "a huge phenomenon" in the world right now, but Alberta is not considering moving forward on Internet gaming at this point.

Alberta already rakes in roughly $1.3 billion a year from gaming revenues, mostly from VLTs, casinos and bingo.

Carlyle-Helms says the gaming commission is simply doing telephone and online surveys with 800 Albertans to find out if they gambling online and what games they play.

She says the province has been monitoring this issue for more than five years because Internet gambling is illegal in Alberta unless the province is involved.