Internet gambling on horizon in Ontario

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission, which operates several casinos and the province’s racetrack slot machine programs, has taken the first steps toward implementing Internet gambling in the province.
The commission said in a press release that it would begin a “thorough consultation and implementation process over the next 18 months,” and that Internet gambling could be offered by 2012.
Gamblers could buy lottery tickets online and play casino games and poker.
The Woodbine Entertainment Group’s slots programs at Woodbine at Mohawk would be facing new competition in the form of the official online gambling site. Racetrack slots return 10 percent of net revenue to the track for capital expenses and 10 percent to purses, and the hope is that the Ontario horse racing industry will get a share of the Internet gambling revenue, said Nick Eves, WEG’s president and chief executive officer.
“It only makes sense,” he said in an e-mail. “We are already partners and there are 60,000 jobs in the province which depend on it.”