PEI Finance Minister Says Internet Casino Gaming To Be Rejected

The possibility of Canada's Prince Edward Island joining a consortium of other Canadian Provinces within the Atlantic Lottery Corporation receded this week, when finance minister Wes Sheridan announced that the island would not be participating.
 
The finance minister, who had originally appeared supportive of the idea to launch the casino-type games felt instead that measures should be introduced to curtail the activities of islanders who gambled on offshore sites; at an estimated annual loss to the region of CDM $50 million.
 
Atlantic Lottery already offers PlaySphere, a website that allows people to wager on some online games, but not multi-player poker, blackjack and other casino-like games.
 
British Columbia launched its online gambling site in July this year, and Quebec and Ontario are also launching their own sites in the near future.  In Nova Scotia, Premier Darrell Dexter rejected the idea of online gambling last week.
 
Sheridan went on to say that "Right from the outset this has been all about player protection on Prince Edward Island.  And even though we have a very strong working relationship with Atlantic Lottery, we don't feel that the online site that they would offer is the right solution for Prince Edward Island at this time."