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Ottawa community health centres heaped scorn on a proposed Ottawa casino Monday.
Saying gambling ruins lives and damages already disadvantaged communities, five health centres and four resource centres demanded the city reject any plans to place a casino in Ottawa.
The Centretown Community Health Centre ? which receives provincial and municipal funding ? hosted representatives from each centre to rail against the evils of gambling.
As legal gambling options have expanded, the quantity of problem gamblers has ballooned as well, the centre said in a release.
In addition to obvious potential financial problems, the centre says that mental health issues also flourish where gambling is abundant.
Six other people are affected for every one problem gambler, the centre said.
The poor, the elderly, immigrants and Aboriginals are disproportionately affected by gambling addictions, the centre said.
?The best way to prevent negative impacts of problem gambling is clearly to prevent making gambling more accessible and avoid building a new casino in Ottawa in the first place,? the release said.
Appearing with Centretown were the Pinecrest-Queensway, Sandy Hill, Somerset West and South-East Ottawa Community Health Centres, and the Eastern Ottawa, Lowertown, Orl?ans-Cumberland and Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centres.
The casino deal had looked briefly in doubt when reports emerged that Toronto might get a bigger cut of gambling revenue than Ottawa.
But Premier Kathleen Wynne soon soothed ruffled feathers, promising no preferential treatment for anyone at all.
In a written statement Monday, Mayor Jim Watson notes the city already has had a ?significant gaming facility? at the Rideau Carleton Raceway.
?When council voted on this issue, it noted that the Province of Ontario has one of the best funded strategies of any jurisdiction in North America to address problem gambling,? Watson says.
?As things currently stand, the city and Ontario incur all of the costs associated with problem gambling on this side of the Ottawa River while a large share of revenue stays on the Quebec side.?
Watson says residents will have opportunities to comment when the OLG comes back with a proposed location.
?I will recommend it to council only if it is in the best long-term interests of the people of Ottawa,? Watson says.
The issue hasn?t generated much buzz around council recently.
?We?re not even talking about it very much,? Kanata North Coun. Marianne Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson, who is against having a casino in the downtown, said she expects the city to go through a larger consultation when the OLG pitches a location.
tony.spears@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @ottawasuntonys
Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/03/25/ottawa-community-health-centres-dont-want-new-ottawa-casino
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