Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Problem gamblers difficult to identify, says Vancouver health officer

Paragon Gaming required to develop harm reduction strategy
Dr. John Carsley
Dr. John Carsley, seen here speaking at city hall about problem gambling, recently visited Vancouver’s three gambling facilities as part of a council-directed review. photo Dan Toulgoet

A medical health officer’s visit to Vancouver’s two casinos and a bingo hall last month left him unable to recommend what can be done to identify or curb severe problem gamblers.

Dr. John Carsley of Vancouver Coastal Health visited Edgewater casino, Hastings Racecourse, which also has slot machines, and Planet Bingo as part of a review he and a former city social planner Mario Lee are conducting on behalf of city council.

Though the facilities have programs in place to deal with problem gamblers, Carsley said there is a gap in identifying those gamblers who don’t voluntarily seek help.

“It is hard to identify them,” he said. “It’s one of the not insurmountable but very difficult problems when you’re dealing with gambling.”

Even if a person gambled at a facility every day, their problem can go unrecognized unless their behaviour somehow causes them to be excluded from a casino or bingo hall, he said.

Carsley compared gambling to alcohol use, saying the majority of people who enjoy a drink are not problem drinkers and don’t get into health or financial difficulties.

Except for the acute effects of binge drinking, alcohol poisoning or injuries related to alcohol use, Carsley said it is difficult to identify a person with a chronic drinking problem.

“It’s a big public health problem, and in both cases, we as a society derive a huge amount of income from both of those sanctioned, regulated activities,” he said.

Carsley is the same medical health officer who recommended in March 2011 that council reject a proposal from Edgewater owners Paragon Gaming to build a mega casino adjacent to B.C. Place Stadium.

Carsley based his recommendation on literature and research he reviewed on whether an expansion of gambling would create more problem gamblers. He concluded the evidence was contradictory and told council that “once you make the decision to go ahead in the hope that one theory is better than the other, you can’t really go back.”

Council unanimously rejected Paragon’s request to almost triple the number of its slot machines to 1,500 and double its games tables to 150.

But council gave Paragon the option to move from its site at the Plaza of Nations to property adjacent B.C. Place Stadium, as long as it kept the same complement of existing slots and tables.

In December, the city’s development permit board granted Paragon preliminary approval to proceed with a $535-million complex featuring a casino, two hotels and several restaurants.

Paragon, however, has to meet two main conditions related to addressing problem gambling, including developing a harm reduction strategy, and ensuring the complex meets high environmental design standards.

Some of those conditions are being incorporated into the review Carsley and Lee continue to conduct on the city’s three gambling facilities.

Initially, Carsley and Lee began their review after council earlier passed a motion to have city staff conduct a public health review of the two casinos and bingo hall.

The motion was brought forward in light of provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall’s report on problem gambling that called for government to lessen the harm caused by gambling.

Kendall’s report, released in October, showed that even though gambling generally declined between 2002 and 2007, the number of people with a severe gambling problem increased from nearly 13,000 to 31,000.

At the same time, the annual gross gaming revenue for the provincial government steadily increased between 2002 and 2012, going from $1.1 billion to $2.1 billion.

Carsley said he didn’t know when a report will be presented to city council on his and Lee’s findings of the review. He wouldn’t speculate on recommendations.

“This is a fabulous opportunity for a very interesting pilot project to help reduce the negative effect of gambling,” said Carsley, who noted all three facilities were cooperative with the review.

mhowell@vancourier.com
twitter.com/Howellings