A B.C. Lottery Corporation executive concedes that a ban on legal Olympic hockey betting during the 2010 Winter Olympics could drive gamblers to websites that breach the Criminal Code.
“There’s nothing we can do about that,” admitted vice-president of corporate affairs Kevin Gass. “Those sites operate, there’s over 2,000 casino and sporting bet sites in the world.”
BCLC has the federally granted monopoly on legal gambling in the Olympic province. But the Crown corporation’s six-year sponsorship deal with VANOC prohibits it from taking bets on Olympic events via SportsAction retailers and the PlayNow website.
VANOC said it acted on its own to include the ban in the contract.
“(The decision) was ours,” said VANOC deputy CEO Dave Cobb. “I would expect that if it wasn’t there, the IOC probably would have raised it.”
Gass said SportsAction grosses $40 million annually and hockey is “a mainstay of our SportsAction menu.” He estimated BCLC would miss-out on “several hundred thousands of dollars,” but the deal with VANOC through 2012 is more valuable in the long run.
In August, BCLC increased weekly online betting limits from $120 to $9,999 in a bid to stem the flow of revenue to websites in foreign countries and the Montreal-area Kahnawake Mohawk reserve. Mohawks claim their territory is sovereign.
