Canada’s Nova Scotia Joins the Online Casino Games Boom

With an estimated $100 million leaving Atlantic Canada for offshore gambling websites, Nova Scotia, and some fellow Atlantic provinces, has decided to legalize the activity and open an online casino games website.

Atlantic Provinces to Soon Get Online Casino Gaming

Nova Scotia has made up its mind – it will host online casino games starting this spring in a bid to bolster ailing finances and liberalize a market long dominated by illegitimate players. The Atlantic Lottery Corporation already launched a New Brunswick website last year, but Atlantic provinces are next.

A final endorsement by local governments would be needed before Atlantic Corp. can roll out its online gaming product, though, and this is precisely what Nova Scotia did on Friday, confirming that it would host a casino website, signed off by the council.

Clarifying on the development of a casino site, Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation confirmed that costs of development will be spread across all provinces willing to participate in the establishment of such product.

Understandably, there has been pushback from gambling worrywarts who have claimed that the website in New Brunswick invites reckless gambling. While the rest of the world has been setting tight limits on the amounts players can stake online, the operations in New Brunswick have allowed for $100 bets per slot and $500 bets per a hand of blackjack.

The concern is that financial chagrin coupled with isolation and lockdown could lead to reckless spending behaviors and financial ruin.

Legalize Online Gambling Now for Benefit of All, Says Corp.

In delivering its arguments, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation has said that an estimated $100 million is already leaving Atlantic provinces due to offshore gambling, which is not blocked, monitored or controlled in Canada.

The phantom of offshore gambling has been haunting Canada since the early days of online casinos, with no strict regulations in place. Yet, Atlantic Corp. believes that having a regulated website is the safest bet when it comes to dealing with problem gambling issues and regulating the pace of gaming in the first place.

Nova Scotia does not have any problem gambling organization to address the issue, however, after Gambling Awareness Nova Scotia was shut down last year.

Nova Scotia is not the only province that has chosen to expand online gambling. Earlier, Prince Edward Island confirmed that it would seek to launch an online gambling website in collaboration with the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.