Province sitting on millions set aside to help problem gamblers, fund addiction research
Anti-VLT activist says province concerned research will lead to drop in revenue
Bernie Walsh hasn't led the life he wanted to lead.
He blames that on an addiction to video lottery terminals that not only took his money, and eventually his home, but also exacted a heavy personal toll.
"It cost me my family, it cost me my health," said the 68-year-old Walsh.
The anti-VLT activist cannot understand why money collected to help him, and others like him, is sitting idle rather than going to programs and services for addicts or to research aimed at better understanding addiction.
$6M collected
But that's exactly what is happening to $6 million collected from gambling profits.
Every year for the past 20 years, one per cent of revenue from VLTs in Nova Scotia, and a matching amount from lottery sales and casino profits, have flowed into a fund.
Although that money now goes to the Gambling Awareness Foundation of Nova Scotia, the funds are controlled by three Department of Health officials, including associate deputy minister Jeannine Lagassé and Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief medical officer of health.
The foundation was created in 1998 — replacing the Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation — as a not-for-profit, arms-length organization "for the purpose of receiving and distributing funds that would support communities to reduce the harmful effects of gambling."
Money trickles out
But the money flowing in has only trickled out during the past eight years.
According to the foundation's annual reports, a total of $1.5 million has been disbursed to community groups or for research projects since 2010. During that time, successive surpluses have doubled the amount of money in the fund from $3 million to $6 million.
Those who control the fund have been tasked by Health Minister Randy Delorey to come up with a plan to spend the money.
"They've been working to identify how we can be flowing that money towards projects more efficiently," Delorey said Wednesday.
No timeline for completion
While his department said in a written statement "significant work [had] been done over the last year" by the group, Delorey refused to give a timeline for its completion.
"It's not just about putting money out the door," he said. "It's very easy for governments to do.
"We want to do it in a way that ensures we get value for the research that's being conducted."
Walsh thinks the problem is the government is addicted to the revenue generated by gambling in Nova Scotia and it is reluctant to do anything that would reduce that supply of easy money.
"I think they're more addicted [than VLT addicts]," said Walsh. "I think they have to have that money coming in everyday."
Walsh proposes drop-in centre
Delorey rejects the suggestion the province is profiting from gambling addicts.
Walsh knows how he would use the money.
"I would spend it on having a special building where gamblers could come in everyday, sort of like a drop-in centre," he said.
"Where they come in, where there's no atmosphere of gambling. They sit down, they talk to each other. They find out what kind of problems they're having, what their day was like yesterday. Are their families still together? There's a lot of things you could do that would make that money make sense," said Walsh.
Ironically, that's exactly the kind of project that received funding the first time funds were withdrawn.
An outreach centre run by the Compulsive and Problem Gamblers Society received $275,000 to "offer problem gamers a place to drop in and talk through their problems," according to a news release issued by the provincial government on April 15, 1998.