United Church Social Policy Positions

Video lottery terminals or VLTs have galvanized public attention on government-sponsored gambling for several reasons. First, they are the equivalent of the slot machines inside major casinos, with a few differences. They are often located outside casinos. They are high accessible, especially to minors. Also VLTs require virtually no skill and are played at a very rapid pace. The distinctions between VLTs and slot machines are small enough that public policies need to be developed for both, with an eye to the known dangers of VLTs per se. The issue is government-sponsored expansion of gambling and its plan to make it universally accessible by increasing the gambling sites.

VLTs are called "the crack cocaine" of the gambling industry because they are highly addictive. Although they are banned in all but 7 of the United States, they are promoted by provincial governments in Canada. The Ontario government plan called for 20,000 VLTs (now slot machines) operating in the province to assist it in reaching its development goal. That goal is: that 1 in 3 Ontario adults will gamble at least one time per month.[11] Persuading this many Ontario adults to lose money is crucial in generating the money that government will use to fund public purposes and charities.

Internet gambling is but the next stage of an industrial revolution that is upon us. The National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling in the US described internet gambling this way:

"Consider the ABCs of Internet gambling—Addiction, Bankruptcy, and Crime. Internet gambling would multiply addiction exponentially by making highly addictive forms of gambling easily accessible to everyone. Internet gambling has the potential to take huge sums out of the entertainment/retail economy all over the nation without creating any replacement jobs...."[12]

The social costs of this new form of gambling are partly responsible for legislation under consideration in the US Senate and the House. Such legislation is not yet being developed in Canada.

11. Coopers and Lybrand (1996) "Ontario Gambling Club Project (Report prepared for the Gaming Control Commission), p. 14.
12. Ann Geer, Chair, in testimony to hearings of the American Senate on the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling Newsletter, Fall, 1997.