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McGuinty is seriously considering legalizing Internet gambling, as long as the government profits from it. He said no to MMA (mixed martial arts), but online gambling is a big money maker and the Ontario Government is currently missing out on some serious coin. US tourism (and therefore visits to Ontario casinos) is down due to the recession, so the OLG is looking for places to make up this lost revenue.
There is no doubt people spend a lot of money gambling online. The U.S. Treasury Department estimates online gambling is a $16 billion a year industry. Quebec will be launching it's own online gambling site in the fall, and BC and the Atlantic provinces are already running online gambling sites.
Ontario essentially made it's views public on online gambling when it passed a law in 2007 making it illegal for gambling sites to advertise. But now it looks like the government is going to join the online gaming sites they were trying to legislate out of business. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?
