Page 8 - The Game November 2006

8 The Game, November 2006 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Woodbine’s Willmot Goes Coast to Coast Against Illegal Gambling Sites
By Peter Gross
Bob McCown’s Prime Time Radio show, originating from the Fan 590 in Toronto spent several nights in mid-October arguing the merits of a bill introduced by the Provincial Government that would make it illegal to advertise an internet gambling site. On Thursday October 19, Woodbine President and CEO David Willmot appeared on McCown’s show to present horse racing’s side of the issue. The following is an edit- ed transcript of what occurred:
McCown: You’re aware that we have addressed what was a proposed bill and now has been entered into the readings of the government, one that would effective- ly prohibit the advertising of any internet gaming site in the province of Ontario. The proposed bill would seemingly shut down all advertising of any gaming site either for fun or for actual money. Among those impacted by this is the Woodbine Entertainment Group and earlier today I received a telephone call and a request
was made to allow a representative of Woodbine Entertainment to give us their side of the story and we’re pleased that David Willmot, the Chairman and CEO of Woodbine Entertainment joins us now on the telephone to address this issue. David, thank-you. How are you?
Willmot: I’m fine Bob. I thought I was invited on. I didn’t know I’d invited myself on.
McCown: No, effectively that’s what happened. You know that you’re always welcome. I would always give you that opportunity, David. Do you have a general comment on this? What is Woodbine Entertainment Group’s position on this proposed legislation?
Willmot: The first thing I’d like to say is that you said this bill introduced into the Ontario Legislature would make it illegal or prohibit the advertising of online gaming sites. It is already illegal in the criminal code. It’s simply not being enforced. Under section 202 of the code, it’s clearly illegal. So, as I understand it, what Ontario is saying, is, because they
don’t have jurisdiction of the Criminal Code, they’re introducing a bill, which, through the consumer protec- tion route, would prohibit the adver- tising of these sites. So I think it’s important to understand - it is illegal. It is not being made illegal by this bill.
Secondly it relates to sites that are not situated in Canada; therefore they’re not legal, they’re not regulated, they’re not taxed. So in terms of underage gaming, fraudulent practise and other things, the consumer - the Canadian public - is not protected. Gaming companies, which are licensed within Canada, pay a huge regulatory fee. So these things are out there, they’re illegal and the advertising is illegal. That’s pretty much a given. Now we get into the tricky area of enforceabil- ity. The federal government does not appear to have any will or at least has not expressed any will so far to enforce the laws of Canada. I think we have a right to expect that our government either does that or changes the law if the law is not enforceable. Now in terms of our position, I did not hear your show last night with Mr. Phillips.
McCown: Shame on you sir
Wlllmot: Well I don’t listen to it every night. I try and catch it as often as I can. But there seemed to be a suggestion that horse racing’s position on this was that we were looking to be left alone, we didn’t want to be impacted, and we were asking the government to protect us from these people, I don’t think it’s a matter of protection. It’s pretty clear that they are competing with us to the tune of billions of dollars being pulled out this country every year but we are not allowed to compete with them. I would love to compete. Do what Britain has done. Except for the United States and Canada, the rest of the civilized world understands that the genie is out of the bottle and they are legislating, regulating and taxing. In Canada we’re, quite frankly, in the worst position. We have laws that we’re not
enforcing, therefore we put business in the impossible position of having offshore sites actually advertising and competing, and because we’re regulated and we have licences, we are not allowed to do what they do. We are not allowed to compete. I would love to compete Take the hand- cuffs off. I was in Ottawa a year and a half ago talking to a couple of senior Mounties on this issue and we were talking about whether the laws of the criminal code were going to be enforced and they were saying, ‘It’s not a high priority,’ and I said, ‘Well fine, if there’s no plans to do anything, presumably you won’t have a problem if we go and do a joint venture offshore and we operate a poker site and a sports book and a bet exchange and we won’t even operate it, we’ll just be passive shareholders, but it will enable us to do what all this competition of ours is doing and get in the game and be able to compete to save Canadian jobs, thousands of jobs.’
McCown: And of course they said, ‘Well you can’t do that.’
Willmot: What I said I would like is a stand-down letter from you saying that you won’t take action against us because you’re not going to take action against anybody else and he said, ‘Well no we’d have to charge you tomorrow.’ And I said, ‘Because you know where to find us?’ And he said, ‘You’re right.’ We’ve got three options-either you enforce the law, you remain status quo, or you legislate, regulate and tax and allow competition. We’re stuck in the middle Status quo is unacceptable.
McCown: Would you acknowledge, at least, that there are other jurisdictions that have a difference of opinion on
whether poker is a game of chance or skill?
Willmot: Jurisdictions other than Canada?
McCown: Indeed.
Willmot: Well, we’re in Canada. I’m talking about the Canadian Criminal Code and the enforcement of these laws in Canada. I’m saying it’s unconscionable for businesses that pay taxes and employ people and have money invested in a jurisdiction to have to face competition from outside the jurisdiction, are not allowed to compete. We pay about $13 million a year in
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