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Ontario's push to allow Las Vegas-style sports gambling in casinos in a bid to boost sagging revenues is an irresponsible move that could deepen a troubling trend of gambling addiction in the province, critics said Thursday. Ontario casinos do have some sports betting, but it's limited to the government-run Pro-Line lottery in which gamblers select the outcomes of three or more contests on a "parlay" ticket. The province is urging Ottawa to amend the Criminal Code to allow casino "sportsbooks" -- a section of the facility where gamblers could make bets on individual games, government officials confirmed. Former Infrastructure Minister David Caplan -- who was recently shuffled to the Health and Long-Term Care file -- made the request last year in a letter to federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, said Caplan's former spokeswoman Amy Tang. "There was a letter that came back from Minister Nicholson's office, saying 'Thank you for the letter' and that was it," said Tang, who works for newly-minted Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman. "(He said) he was going to give it some consideration." The Toronto Star has reported that Nicholson, who represents Niagara Falls, is receptive to the idea and the two levels of government are quietly co-operating, although no timeline has been set. "We're hopeful that they're going to make that change," she added. "That would then allow us to investigate this as a possibility for an overall provincial gaming strategy." But Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said it's just another distraction concocted by the governing Liberals to draw attention away from the province's current economic troubles. "We should have a discussion about sportsbooks at our casinos because they're in trouble," he said. "But at the end of the day, what problem is this going to solve? Is it going to fix the economy? Will it fix C. difficile or long-term care, or will it fix even the government's revenues? No, it won't." But Conservative finance critic Tim Hudak said he's urged Nicholson and Smitherman to move quickly on the proposal. "I do believe that this would be helpful to our casinos, to bring patrons back," said Hudak, who represents the riding of Niagara Falls- Glanbrook. Expanding gambling at a time when the government barely has a handle on its problem gamblers is an "incredibly irresponsible" move, said NDP critic Peter Kormos. Kids from St. David's School proudly hold donation cheque to aid in research towards finding a cure for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Genetic Disorder. This is cache, read story here
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