Nova Scotia launches online casino games

[The Buzz]

Very quietly, after years of pushing by the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, Nova Scotia launched an online casino last Thursday.

Finance Minister Allan MacMaster said in an interview with CBC that "We didn't want to make a big announcement about this. We're not trying to really promote it . . . We just wanted to put it out there. It's up and running now and it's there for people who want to play."

Nova Scotia is the second Atlantic province to launch an online casino, following New Brunswick, which introduced iGaming in 2020 and netted $7.3 million during the first fiscal year in operation.

From CBC:

MacMaster said the decision was made in recent days following months of discussion. Those talks included "extensive discussions" with his cabinet colleague Brian Comer, the minister responsible for addictions and mental health, and officials from Comer's office.

Through those talks, MacMaster said it became difficult to overlook how prevalent online gambling has become.

"People are gaming on sites quite literally from just about anywhere in the world," he said.

"There's no guarantee of payouts and there's also, you know, very little in the way of protections for people who, you know, may become addicted to them and have other problems with them."

Having a Nova Scotia-based operation means people in the province who want to gamble online have a safe and secure place to do so, said MacMaster. The website includes a link to so-called play wise tools, which can allow a player to limit the amount of time and money they spend on the site.

Read more here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-...sino-1.6527727

[casinos-au-quebec]

Quite the opposite of what they did in Ontario last year. I'm pretty it won't be enough to stop Canadian players from accessing dodgy online casinos.

[Pokerface]

Another example that governments realize they are leaving/losing financials to their coffers by not offering and participating in the industry.