Nova Scotia is the next in line to introduce online gambling regardless of resistance from the Atlantic Lottery Corporation in Canada according to Finance Minister Graham Steele who told the Chronicle Herald newspaper that online gambling was in the current stages of development. Still it is mandatory that all four partners agree on products offered and opposition has been encountered.
Danny Williams, for example, Newfoundland Premier said he’d vote against internet gambling coming to Nova Scotia. The Atlantic Lottery Corporation is made up of four Canadian provincial governments: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia itself. The Atlantic Lottery Corporation has its own online site called PlayNow which allows people to buy lottery tickets and play interactive games. It is the first government-run online casino in North America offering sports betting, bingo, casino and lottery games with poker to come to the stage soon.
Unfortunately, however in July, PlayNow was taken offline after a security breach only hours after launching. 134 players had their personal data comprimised and $5 million was lost in revenue by PlayNow as it took five weeks to troubleshoot. The problem was not caused by a hacker but by a software effort that caused “data crossover” where names, contact information, and in some cases, credit card and bank information was visible to other gamblers using the site. The site went back online, August 20th.
British Columbia was the first to open its mind to online gambling in Canada and since then other provinces are beginning to follow suit. The British Columbia Lottery Corporation hopes to capture some of the estimated $100 million lost each year to offshore gambling sites.
24 August, 2010