N.S. Gaming Corp. wrong to pay to bring experts before committee, says premier

The Nova Scotia Gaming Corp. acted inappropriately when it flew in three outside experts to advocate for a gambling-related bill, Premier Stephen McNeil said Tuesday.

But for now, it appears taxpayers remain on the hook for the roughly $7,500 it cost the trio to travel to Halifax where they testified before the legislature's law amendments committee.

"Flying people down here to go before the committee was not appropriate," Premier Stephen McNeil told reporters.

"We should not be paying for people to be before the committee.... It's just fundamentally not appropriate."

The three experts — one current and two former employees with the Ontario-based Responsible Gambling Council — testified Monday in favour of Bill 49.

The proposed law would give cabinet the power to change a long-standing program used by problem gamblers to keep themselves out of the province's two casinos.

Under the current program, problem gamblers can voluntarily bar themselves from the casinos indefinitely. That ban can only be lifted after a hearing and investigation into their financial and personal situation.

Bill 49 would allow those who have asked to be banned from the casinos in Halifax and Sydney to speed up their requests to end voluntary exclusions.

The experts told the committee the government was on the right track and that those changes should encourage more people to join the program, although none provided empirical proof.

They did not tell the committee they were appearing at the behest of the gaming corporation or that their travel expenses were being paid by the Crown corporation.

Premier Stephen McNeil said the gaming corporation should never have extended the invitation.

"People who are hard-working Nova Scotians come before law amendments every day to express their support or disapproval of legislation that's coming forward from government departments put it in there," said McNeil.

Finance Minister Karen Casey echoed that sentiment.

"It is not a good use of taxpayers dollars," she said. "It is not something that I support and I've asked my deputy to meet with the gaming corp. to make sure that there are some adjustments within their budget that do not take that money out of taxpayers dollars."

Casey could not say how that would be possible given the corporation's revenue is derived from casinos, video lottery terminals and lottery sales, and all profits from gambling are supposed to pay for responsible gambling programs or flow back to the province as revenue.