Nova Scotia’s Halifax casino’s revenues are declining. That fact hasn’t escaped critics of the provincial government, which has proposed allowing Atlantic Lottery Corp. to operate an online casino.
Elizabeth Stephen, a counselor who works with addicted patients, commented on the government’s online casino proposal to CBC News:
“What’s behind that?” said Stephen. “Is it because the physical casino is in such decline and perhaps is even going to close down? Is it to replace that revenue?”
The Halifax Casino is operated for the government by the Nova Scotia Gaming Corp. CBC obtained documents showing that the casino struggled to stay afloat for 15 years, long before the Covid-19 pandemic. The gaming corporation has considered relocating the casino.
The casino’s best years were 2006-07, when it took in $75 million, but that number dropped to $54 million by 2015.
Bruce Dienes, chairman of Gambling Risk Informed Nova Scotia (GRINS) told CBC News, “My sense is that the government is looking for alternative revenue streams, hence the talk about the online casino.” He added,
“The problem with that, of course, is if you want to go to a brick-and-mortar casino, you have to actually go to a brick-and-mortar casino. You have to really intentionally do that, you have to be there for a certain piece of time.”
Dienes’ objection to online casinos is that wagers can be made anytime, anywhere, without actually traveling to a brick and mortar casino.
Dienes argues that the Halifax casino’s decline means the province should move away from gaming. “Here is a business model that’s failing, that isn’t meeting the needs of the customers,” he said. “And rather than acknowledging that and moving on to a different kind of business—a different way to entertain, a different way to raise funds—they’re trying to increase the risk and increase the access for something that people clearly don’t want.”
Atlantic Lottery Corp. argues that an online casino is necessary to compete with offshore gaming sites, which vacuums away as much as $100 million in revenues annually.
Nova Scotia Gaming Corp.’s CEO Bob MacKinnon agrees. “I think it is possible that some of the casino business that we would have had at the Halifax casino has gone online,” he said. “There’s no way for us to know an exact number. Generally over the longer term, we would think of them as two very different offerings: that some people like to go online, and many people like to go for a broader entertainment experience where there’s music, there’s food, there’s shows going on, in addition to the gaming offerings.”
