Stakeholders waiting to see how the cards fall on new gambling policy

After seeing the first hints of what is in the New Brunswick government's hand for a new gambling policy, some bar owners are anxiously awaiting its full release on Thursday.

Finance Minister Victor Boudreau wrote an opinion article published in the province's three daily English newspapers on Tuesday and followed it up with a news conference in the afternoon.

The province will be cutting the number of video lottery terminals in New Brunswick by 25 per cent, Boudreau told reporters.

Thatwill mean 2,000 VLTs in the province instead of the current 2,650.

The machines aren't being banned in the province entirely because of the $135 million in revenue the 2,000 VLTs wouldprovide the government each year, Boudreau said.

"There's no question that, I mean, as a government, governments in various jurisdictions rely on the revenue that comes from these machines."

There will also be a one-year moratorium on putting VLTs at new sites while the new policy is introduced.

"I don't know if they're going to do it evenly, or whether they're going to use some sort of a system whereby they're going to remove the machines from places maybe that don't have as much activity on them," said Fredericton bar owner Ashley Flinn.

"If they take one away from everybody, it's obviously going to affect our bottom line as well as everybody else's."

Flinn has five machines in his bar. He said he is concerned he might lose one to the 25 per cent cut. He is also expecting to be hit by the moratorium.

"We had actually been approved for another five machines for an expansion we are doing and now I see a moratorium — that they are just going to kind of hold the line on the number of machines at present."

But Flinn said he has no sympathy for bar owners who cry that they are dependent on gambling customers to stay afloat.

"If they rely on their whole five machines to make all of their profits, say 90 per cent of their profits, then I feel they're probably in the wrong business," Flinn said.

Kim Hunter, former president of the New Brunswick Licensees' Association, which represents bar owners, said she will take a "wait-and-see approach" until the full responsible gaming policy is released.

'Destination gaming'

Boudreau hinted the policy will likely also allow casinos or racinos — racetracks with casinos — as a way to promote more "entertainment choices"and "destination gaming" in the province that has watched its tourism industry struggle over the last five years.

It is good news for the Exhibition Association in Saint John that has announced plans to build a $20-million multiplex that would combine a racino with hockey rinks and indoor soccer fields.

"We're just waiting with bated breath for this to get going," said Don Canning, president of the Moncton Standardbred Racing Association.

But anti-gambling critics are concerned about the pending policy.

Rev. Edward Powell points to a 2004 Nova Scotia study that looks at the connection between gambling and suicide.

"I think that Premier Shawn Graham and his colleagues in cabinet need to have the courage to say no to the destruction and death that gambling brings," Powell said.

Boudreau said the government will increase the $757,000 already put into funding addiction services, but didn't give a figure for the increase.

There will be a focus on ensuring gamblers and people working in VLT locations know how to recognize an addiction, Boudreau said.