ALC's pitch for new VLTs worries gambling expert

The Atlantic Lottery Corp.'s plan to add 75 new video lottery terminals in New Brunswick is raising concerns with a University of New Brunswick researcher.

Tim Gallagher, a professor at the University of New Brunswick who studies gambling addictions, said the lottery corporation'sproposal could devastate a vulnerable section of the population.

"There is a real segment of the population that are devastated by it and the government and the corporation is making a lot of money off these people that are devastated," said Tim Gallagher.

The lottery corporation is planning to add the new VLTs in three proposed gambling sites under the Coasters banner one in Fredericton and two in Saint John.

Coasters sites, which are located within licensed establishments, offer between 15 and 25 VLTs, as well as lottery tickets.

There are currently 11 Coasters sites in the province.

Financial concerns

The video lottery terminals are a bigger winner for the corporation, financially. ALC generated $134 million in gross revenue last year from video lottery terminals.

While the machines traditionally bring in a significant amount of money for the lottery corporation, the provincial government has already indicated that ALC is missing its revenue projections for 2011-12.

When Finance Minister Blaine Higgs released his first quarter fiscal update earlier this year, he specifically pointed out that ALCs forecasted revenues were down $8.2 million.

While VLTs generate a large portion of Atlantic Lotto's profits, Gallagher said that they also represent the greatest risk for creating gambling addictions.

Gallagher said Atlantic Lottery makes more money from people who can't control themselves, than it makes from people who can.

He said the lights and sounds and rewards from these machines, are highly stimulating and create excitement.

"Because they need it. They need it like alcohol," Gallagher said.

ALC is permitted to locate the VLTs in the Coasters establishments. The provincial governmentbrought down strict rules in 2007 when it announced plans for its first casino.

The former Liberal government cut back the number of VLTs that the lottery corporation could havefrom 2,650to 2,000 in 2007.

ALC is below the cap on the video terminals. The company says it has 1,959 video lottery terminals in New Brunswick.

The corporation says even when the bidding process to create new licensed gambling outlets is complete, it will never go above the cap that was set by the responsible gaming policy in 2007.