Interesting editorial in The Toronto Star advocating the regulation of sports betting in Ontario.

The province currently allows parlays, run by the lottery, but the editorial suggests that gamblers would prefer to be able to bet on one game at a time, as they are able to do in Las Vegas. The writer never, however, says that the Internet bets should be regulated.

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/345315
Legalizing this one more form of gambling also would provide the government with many billions in revenue, rather than let it all escape through the Internet to offshore joints in the Caribbean or, worse, to sites run out of that Mohawk reserve near Montreal. Already, billions of dollars in worldwide Internet gambling takes place there with zero return to our governments.

Meanwhile, stupid games like Ontario's Pro-Line, which pay out a tiny fraction of what they should, are fighting a losing battle to Internet sites. So are racetracks, which cannot compete with websites that have zero overhead.

Let the government legalize and regulate the gambling, as was done in the U.K. a few years ago, and watch the money roll in. Put that revenue into sports programs for amateurs and kids and put it into the professional events, the car races and such, if it's really necessary.

Gambling is both the largest industry in the world now and also the largest growth industry. It cannot be stopped, no matter what out-of-touch lawmakers think about banning Internet betting sites and credit card access and so on. Likewise, the moral horse long ago left the barn; our province shamelessly hucksters all forms of gambling as a source of revenue.