A CONVENIENT DEPARTURE FROM THE TRUTH

16 March 2007

British Columbia's Solicitor General doesn't seem to know his Internet from his elbow...

Buying lottery tickets through a website isn’t Internet gambling. That's the opinion of the Solicitor General for the British Columbia province of Canada, reports Canada Press.

Solicitor General John Les made the distinction between ticket sales and playing games like poker online, after political opponent Guy Gentner accused the B.C. Liberal government of becoming “gaming crackheads” for plans to expand casinos and lottery revenues.

“Texas Hold ‘em online, the likes of that,” Les said, when asked how he defines online gambling. “Right now we have this PlayNow website and we offer a lottery product online. That in my definition is not gaming, that’s simply buying lottery products.”

He added that the PlayNow site limits what players can spend, implying that this makes lottery purchases online OK as well.

“If you go to your corner store and gas station and buy lottery products, there’s no limit,” Les said. “You can buy $1 000 worth of 6/49 tickets this afternoon, but on the PlayNow website, the limit is 70 bucks.”

The rather skewed definition shouldn't come as a surprise - B.C. Lottery Corporation’s revenues from lottery ticket sales are expected to top $1 billion this fiscal year, thanks in part to growing sales through the PlayNow website.

With land casino income projected to climb to $1.24 billion this year and plans to expand more casinos along the lines of the River Rock Casino in Richmond, Les denied Gentner’s suggestion that the government is also looking to expand its [exclusive] offerings to the Internet.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

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