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Younger Casino Bettors Are Upping the Ante on Risky Gambling in British Columbia, Documents Show

Published

3 weeks ago

13 minute read

By Stanley Tromp

Younger casino players in British Columbia are significantly increasing high-risk gambling behaviours, while “gambling literacy” has declined over the past year, according to data from the province’s gaming provider, the BC Lottery Corporation.

This and other concerns were outlined in the Player Health Tracker Report by Ipsos Research, released in July 2024 and commissioned by BCLC. The Bureau obtained six reports totaling 903 pages through a Freedom of Information request. The findings point to an alarming rise in high-risk gambling among younger bettors in the second quarter of fiscal 2024/2025—raising fresh questions for BCLC, an agency previously criticized for prioritizing revenue over social responsibility.

“Younger players are known to display more high-risk behaviours, believe more strongly in gambling myths, and play more games, especially high-risk ones,” the report said.

To address this, Ipsos recommended that “BCLC could consider targeting younger casino players in its campaigns geared toward casino players, with messaging related to increasing gambling literacy and promoting safer gaming.”

The concerning trend comes under the watch of Premier David Eby. In 2018, when Eby served as B.C.’s Attorney General, he told CBC that his government should be doing much more to help gambling addicts.

Eby also pointed out that his NDP government had moved responsibility for the gaming industry from Finance to the Attorney General’s office in 2017, because “the B.C. Lottery Corporation should not be responsible for both revenue generation and regulation.” That decision was later reversed, with oversight returning to the Finance Ministry.

In a warning back in 2020, an internal briefing note from the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety highlighted the “rapidly changing” online betting market as a source of mounting risks.

The note said more people were gambling “in an environment that may not have appropriate responsible gambling and integrity controls, that may allow minors to gamble, and that may carry an increased risk for fraud and money laundering.”

The new survey results were based on 498 interviews with adults in British Columbia who had played at least one BCLC game in the past year. Three of the reports track changes in gambling behaviours from the first to the third quarter of fiscal year 2024/25—that is, from April to December 2024.

PlayNow.com is BCLC’s internet gambling platform, featuring online table games, slots, and sports betting. It was launched in 2004 and later expanded to other western provinces.

In the first quarter (April–June 2024), “PGSI behaviours increased significantly among PlayNow players,” according to the Ipsos report. (The Problem Gambling Severity Index, or PGSI, is a nine-item self-report scale measuring risky gambling behaviours in the general population.)

The highest-risk PlayNow users were identified as young urban males—“the least likely to feel responsible for what happens to them.” Their gambling motivations include “feeling tense and wanting to be in the zone,” factors not observed in other segments. They were also found to be the least likely to engage in responsible play, despite recognizing risks in their own behaviour.

In the second quarter (July–September 2024), PlayNow players’ high-risk PGSI scores trended upward, while gambling literacy declined. Ipsos warned: “Given that PlayNow players remain a more at-risk group, BCLC could focus on reinforcing gambling literacy and safer gambling behaviours.” It advised close monitoring to identify whether preventative actions were needed.

In the third quarter (October–December 2024), Ipsos observed a tentative improvement: “High-risk PGSI has declined significantly among PlayNow players, although the shift should be interpreted with caution due to lower base sizes… high gambling literacy has rebounded.”

Overall, Ipsos found that online players demonstrated stronger belief in gambling myths and more problematic behaviours than retail players. Their pre-commitment habits—such as setting spending limits—and overall gambling literacy were weaker by comparison.

Sports betting remained a distinct concern. “Given that online sports bettors continue to be a higher-risk group,” Ipsos wrote, “BCLC could benefit from maintaining targeted initiatives that tackle the specific challenges of sports betting and promote safer gambling practices, especially during major sporting events such as the Super Bowl, March Madness, and the NHL and NBA play-offs in the coming months.”

Casino players were a more at-risk group in the first quarter. In the second quarter, there was a significant drop in gambling literacy among this segment. But by the third quarter, Ipsos reported some improvements: “Casino players display some improvement in high-risk PGSI, high pre-commitment, and high gambling literacy this quarter.” Ipsos attributed this to a higher proportion of casual casino players compared to moderate or high-frequency players.

The public was also surveyed on which casinos or gaming community centres they had visited in the past 12 months. River Rock Casino in Richmond was the most reported location, with 27% of respondents naming it. This was followed by Vancouver’s Parq Casino (24%), Burnaby’s Grand Villa Casino (23%), and Coquitlam’s Hard Rock Casino (20%). Other B.C. casinos saw significantly lower visitation numbers.

However, from January to December 2024, “casino players are significantly more likely to believe several gambling myths compared to last year,” Ipsos warned. These included beliefs that: (1) casino staff can change game outcomes, (2) some slot machines are “hot” and due for a big jackpot, and (3) a payout rate of 85% means players will get back $85 of every $100 spent.

Ipsos cautioned that any gains in safer gambling behaviours and literacy may not be sustainable if belief in these myths continues to grow. It recommended that BCLC intensify efforts to dispel such misinformation.

Keno players were also flagged as high-risk during the second and third quarters, and showed low gambling literacy. “When looking at product cross-play, most Keno online players also play Keno at retail locations, and thus online players also exhibit a more at-risk profile,” Ipsos reported. (In February 2024, a B.C. player won $1 million playing Keno—the largest payout in BCLC history.)

BCLC has stated that its GameSense program provides players with information about how gambling works and offers tools to support informed decisions. The program aims to improve gambling literacy by helping players understand the odds of winning, distinguish between chance- and skill-based games, dispel common myths, and locate available resources.

However, in the second quarter, pollsters found that “awareness of a safer gambling education program in BC significantly decreased, as did awareness of the GameSense program across all business units.” In the third quarter, results were mixed: awareness of a safer gambling education program improved, and GameSense name recognition held steady, but both familiarity with and usage of the program declined.

The Bureau also obtained BCLC’s Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Tracker reports by Harris Insights for November 2024 (Q2) and February 2025 (Q3). Many pages were redacted by BCLC on the grounds that their release would cause financial harm.

These tracker documents monitor the corporation’s core business indicators and are reported to shareholders in annual statements and service plans. They are also used internally to evaluate performance across business units.

The Q2 report noted that “lottery-only players are declining and shifting to including casino and PlayNow games.” It also found that trust in BCLC games among facility players was significantly higher that quarter. Notably, PlayNow.com sports bettors used illegal betting websites significantly less in Q2 compared to Q1.

In Q3, cross-play between lottery, casino, and PlayNow increased from FY2023/24 to FY2024/25, as did the number of casual casino players and overall participation on PlayNow. At the same time, casual lottery play—such as Lotto 6/49, Lotto Max, Daily Grand, pull tabs, and scratch tickets—declined from Q2 back to Q1 FY2024/25 levels. Ipsos attributed this drop mainly to a loss of casual retail players, although overall lottery participation over the past year remained stable.

Finally, The Bureau reviewed a December 2024 report on BCLC’s “Social Purpose and Brand,” prepared by Unity Insights and Angus Reid.

Their survey data showed that core players across all BCLC facilities—casinos, community gaming centres, and bingo halls—had increased quarter-over-quarter. However, PlayNow sports bettors were increasingly using other websites for wagering, and the number of users betting exclusively on PlayNow declined.

The report also evaluated BCLC’s Integrated Enterprise Strategy, which aims to “increase the positive community and economic impact of gambling entertainment… and to leverage the BCLC brand to bring the commitment to social purpose to life.”

“Generally, consumers seem to articulate a sense of skepticism when it comes to any organization claiming to provide social benefits,” the pollsters wrote. “Virtue signaling was brought up in a negative light (moral grandstanding), where many did not understand how an organization could exist to provide social benefits while balancing profit generation.”

The report posed a direct challenge to BCLC’s leadership: What is the goal of its Social Purpose platform? “Are we trying to use our commitment to social purpose as a lever for acquisition, or is this truly about uplifting a social cause regardless of the business outcome?”

The authors suggested reframing the approach to center on the public. “BCLC players are committed to social purpose, and we thank them for that,” they wrote—before floating a new brand slogan: “BCLC = British Columbians Love Community.”

Stanley Tromp is a graduate of the University of British Columbia Political Science department and an expert on Freedom of Information.

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Business

Mark Carney’s Fiscal Fantasy Will Bankrupt Canada

Published on July 14, 2025

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By Gwyn Morgan

Mark Carney was supposed to be the adult in the room. After nearly a decade of runaway spending under Justin Trudeau, the former central banker was presented to Canadians as a steady hand – someone who could responsibly manage the economy and restore fiscal discipline.

Instead, Carney has taken Trudeau’s recklessness and dialled it up. His government’s recently released spending plan shows an increase of 8.5 percent this fiscal year to $437.8 billion. Add in “non-budgetary spending” such as EI payouts, plus at least $49 billion just to service the burgeoning national debt and total spending in Carney’s first year in office will hit $554.5 billion.

Even if tax revenues were to remain level with last year – and they almost certainly won’t given the tariff wars ravaging Canadian industry – we are hurtling toward a deficit that could easily exceed 3 percent of GDP, and thus dwarf our meagre annual economic growth. It will only get worse. The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates debt interest alone will consume $70 billion annually by 2029. Fitch Ratings recently warned of Canada’s “rapid and steep fiscal deterioration”, noting that if the Liberal program is implemented total federal, provincial and local debt would rise to 90 percent of GDP.

This was already a fiscal powder keg. But then Carney casually tossed in a lit match. At June’s NATO summit, he pledged to raise defence spending to 2 percent of GDP this fiscal year – to roughly $62 billion. Days later, he stunned even his own caucus by promising to match NATO’s new 5 percent target. If he and his Liberal colleagues follow through, Canada’s defence spending will balloon to the current annual equivalent of $155 billion per year. There is no plan to pay for this. It will all go on the national credit card.

This is not “responsible government.” It is economic madness.

And it’s happening amid broader economic decline. Business investment per worker – a key driver of productivity and living standards – has been shrinking since 2015. The C.D. Howe Institute warns that Canadian workers are increasingly “underequipped compared to their peers abroad,” making us less competitive and less prosperous.

The problem isn’t a lack of money; it’s a lack of discipline and vision. We’ve created a business climate that punishes investment: high taxes, sluggish regulatory processes, and politically motivated uncertainty. Carney has done nothing to reverse this. If anything, he’s making the situation worse.

Recall the 2008 global financial meltdown. Carney loves to highlight his role as Bank of Canada Governor during that time but the true credit for steering the country through the crisis belongs to then-prime minister Stephen Harper and his finance minister, Jim Flaherty. Facing the pressures of a minority Parliament, they made the tough decisions that safeguarded Canada’s fiscal foundation. Their disciplined governance is something Carney would do well to emulate.

Instead, he’s tearing down that legacy. His recent $4.3 billion aid pledge to Ukraine, made without parliamentary approval, exemplifies his careless approach. And his self-proclaimed image as the experienced technocrat who could go eyeball-to-eyeball against Trump is starting to crack. Instead of respecting Carney, Trump is almost toying with him, announcing in June, for example that the U.S. would pull out of the much-ballyhooed bilateral trade talks launched at the G7 Summit less than two weeks earlier.

Ordinary Canadians will foot the bill for Carney’s fiscal mess. The dollar has weakened. Young Canadians – already priced out of the housing market – will inherit a mountain of debt. This is not stewardship. It’s generational theft.

Some still believe Carney will pivot – that he will eventually govern sensibly. But nothing in his actions supports that hope. A leader serious about economic renewal would cancel wasteful Trudeau-era programs, streamline approvals for energy and resource projects, and offer incentives for capital investment. Instead, we’re getting more borrowing and ideological showmanship.

It’s no longer credible to say Carney is better than Trudeau. He’s worse. Trudeau at least pretended deficits were temporary. Carney has made them permanent – and more dangerous.

This is a betrayal of the fiscal stability Canadians were promised. If we care about our credit rating, our standard of living, or the future we are leaving our children, we must change course.

That begins by removing a government unwilling – or unable – to do the job.

Canada once set an economic example for others. Those days are gone. The warning signs – soaring debt, declining productivity, and diminished global standing – are everywhere. Carney’s defenders may still hope he can grow into the job. Canada cannot afford to wait and find out.

The original, full-length version of this article was recently published in C2C Journal.

Gwyn Morgan is a retired business leader who was a director of five global corporations.

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Business

Carney Liberals quietly award Pfizer, Moderna nearly $400 million for new COVID shot contracts

Published on July 14, 2025

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Carney’s Liberal government signed nearly $400 million in contracts with Pfizer and Moderna for COVID shots, despite halted booster programs and ongoing delays in compensating Canadians for jab injuries.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has awarded Pfizer and Moderna nearly $400 million in new COVID shot contracts.

On June 30th, the Liberal government quietly signed nearly $400 million contracts with vaccine companies Pfizer and Moderna for COVID jabs, despite thousands of Canadians waiting to receive compensation for COVID shot injuries.

The contracts, published on the Government of Canada website, run from June 30, 2025, until March 31, 2026. Under the contracts, taxpayers must pay $199,907,418.00 to both companies for their COVID shots.

Notably, there have been no press releases regarding the contracts on the Government of Canada website nor from Carney’s official office.

Additionally, the contracts were signed after most Canadians provinces halted their COVID booster shot programs. At the same time, many Canadians are still waiting to receive compensation from COVID shot injuries.

Canada’s Vaccine Injury Support Program (VISP) was launched in December 2020 after the Canadian government gave vaccine makers a shield from liability regarding COVID-19 jab-related injuries.

There has been a total of 3,317 claims received, of which only 234 have received payments. In December, the Canadian Department of Health warned that COVID shot injury payouts will exceed the $75 million budget.

The December memo is the last public update that Canadians have received regarding the cost of the program. However, private investigations have revealed that much of the funding is going in the pockets of administrators, not injured Canadians.

A July report by Global News discovered that Oxaro Inc., the consulting company overseeing the VISP, has received $50.6 million. Of that fund, $33.7 million has been spent on administrative costs, compared to only $16.9 million going to vaccine injured Canadians.

The PHAC’s downplaying of jab injuries is of little surprise to Canadians, as a 2023 secret memo revealed that the federal government purposefully hid adverse effect so as not to alarm Canadians.

The secret memo from former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Privy Council Office noted that COVID jab injuries and even deaths “have the potential to shake public confidence.”

“Adverse effects following immunization, news reports and the government’s response to them have the potential to shake public confidence in the COVID-19 vaccination rollout,” read a part of the memo titled “Testing Behaviourally Informed Messaging in Response to Severe Adverse Events Following Immunization.”

Instead of alerting the public, the secret memo suggested developing “winning communication strategies” to ensure the public did not lose confidence in the experimental injections.

Since the start of the COVID crisis, official data shows that the virus has been listed as the cause of death for less than 20 children in Canada under age 15. This is out of six million children in the age group.

The COVID jabs approved in Canada have also been associated with severe side effects, such as blood clots, rashes, miscarriages, and even heart attacks in young, healthy men.

Additionally, a recent study done by researchers with Canada-based Correlation Research in the Public Interest showed that 17 countries have found a “definite causal link” between peaks in all-cause mortality and the fast rollouts of the COVID shots, as well as boosters.

Interestingly, while the Department of Health has spent $16 million on injury payouts, the Liberal government spent $54 million COVID propaganda promoting the shot to young Canadians.

The Public Health Agency of Canada especially targeted young Canadians ages 18-24 because they “may play down the seriousness of the situation.”

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