Researcher questions keno’s moderate risk
Reported February 27, 2009
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.