Briish Columbia Canada to Offer Online Casino Action

Published: Saturday, August 22, 2009 Online-Casinos.com

British Columbia Canada is feeling the winds of change as it becomes the first province in that country to allow online gambling. By next March 2010 the B.C. Lottery Corp. will be up and running online casino action.
"Rather than it all going to offshore places like Antigua, there's an opportunity to keep it here in British Columbia," said B.C. Lottery Corporation CEO, Michael Graydon. The B.C. Lottery Corp. says that the move could generate up to $100 million a year in revenue by 2014.
The corporation's PlayNow website, announced that it would be allowing a new limit for gamblers in the province. The limit change was announced on August 17 with plans to raise the weekly limit on the corporation's website from a mere $120 to as much as $10,000. This came with much critical press from various sources. The change was announced in anticipation of the online casino offerings. B.C.Lottery Corporation feels it will be able to gain part of the estimated $87 million that gamblers in the province already spend on unregulated or taxed offshore operations.
Shane Simpson, British Columbia's New Democratic Party critic, said the increase of online gambling limits is "unacceptable." adding, "This has been done with no consultation, as I can see, with people who are concerned about problem gambling,"
Graydon said, "there are provisions to prevent problem gamblers from losing too much money, such as a 24-hour cooling-off period before they can bet higher limits."
The provinces plan to make the playing of casino games such as blackjack and poker online will restart what the USA banned in North America, according to one gambling expert.
Bill Thompson a professor of public administration at the University of Nevada, told CBC News. "It's not new, but in terms of being legal and authorized by a government in North America it will be brand new,"