One of Nova Scotia's leading gambling research firms
says the province has not properly evaluated the risks
of a new high-speed electronic bar game about to be
introduced.
Electronic keno, a game where patrons buy numbered
tickets for draws every five minutes, will be launched
in 180 bars and restaurants in the province Monday.
The game has been criticized by gambling experts as
being potentially a high risk for addiction. The
government of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Gaming
Corporation, however, have said there will be measures
in place to reduce the risk.
But Tony Schellinck, co-owner of Focal Research, a
Halifax-based firm that has done gambling research for
the provincial government in the past, says there is a
problem with how the government is gauging the risk of
the new electronic keno game.
"I would say it's a lot less safe than the research
indicates," Schellinck told CBC News, adding that he
believes the system used to analyze keno is flawed.
"The problem is, they say it applies to all
jurisdictions around the world, and to all forms of
gambling, and it doesn't really do that," he said. "And
so as a consequence, they've made some basically
incorrect assumptions about how people will play this
game and its impact on responsible gambling."
The gauge the province is using to classify electronic
keno as a moderate-risk game, known as GAM-GaRD, was
developed in the U.K., and determines the risk of a game
at each stage of the game's development.
Richard Wood, one of three experts hired by the
government to evaluate the safety of the new keno game,
also helped develop the Gam-GaRD system and said it has
been tested extensively.
"We've consulted with experts around the world to make
sure that they're in agreement, so I don't think [Schellinck]
has a lot of grounds to actually criticize it."
Wood said GAM-GaRD has been praised by European
countries which have used it to evaluate gambling games.
Wood also said the bet limits and the time-outs imposed
by the province make the new version of keno relatively
safe for problem gamblers.
The Atlantic Lottery Corporation has said the keno draws
will be held every five minutes from noon until
midnight, with players limited to maximum bets of $10
per draw, but there will be no other limit on the amount
gamblers can spend in a day.
The game is also scheduled to shut down for 10 minutes
every hour.
Schellinck said his speaking out against the province's
stance on keno's risk may cost his firm future contracts
with the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation and the
government, but he said Nova Scotians deserve to know
the truth about the risk of the game.
