Turning Aces into Assets: Four Options to Help the Government Turn its Addiction to Gambling Revenue into Assets for the Poor

Abstract
Government-run gambling is ripe for reform. In our previous report, “Pressing Its Luck,” we examined the ways in which the state’s gambling monopoly operates as a tax on the marginalized - preying on the poor and those who are playing hard to join them. We concluded by offering four policy reforms that could help provinces kick their addiction to regressive gambling profits and build a system that works for, not against, low-income households. Here, we provide a more detailed framework for recovery by exploring each policy option in depth. Returning annual gambling profits to the poor through cash transfers is one option. A second is to promote asset building through a matched savings program. Governments can also work with financial institutions to offer prize-linked savings products, an innovative way to help families build emergency savings funds. Finally, given that gambling profits are drawn disproportionately from problem gamblers, we argue that governments should increase funding for problem-gambling research, prevention, and treatment out of provincial gambling corporations’ marketing budgets.
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Keywords
Gambling -- Canada, Gambling -- Social aspects -- Canada
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