McGuinty’s near-sighted double standard: he sees money in gambling but not in MMA

Last week, in an utterly dunderheaded move, Premier Dalton McGuinty said that it was not a priority to legalize the sport of mixed martial arts in the province of Ontario – henceforth to be known as the Alamo of MMA, the last, desperate, died-with-their-boots-on holdout against the inevitability of being over-run by the fastest-growing sport in North America.

Well, today McGuinty announced that the province was seriously considering legalizing something far more insidious and harmful to the public good: internet gambling.

Now, I’m no gambling prude. I bet on the fights among friends and drop a few bucks when I’m at a casino. It’s fun, it adds a little extra juice to fight night (especially when the match-ups struggle to hold my attention).

But gambling can also be one of the most-destructive socially acceptable activities there is. Like drugs and alcohol, it’s addictive and it can tear lives and families apart. Certainly it does far more harm to the social fabric than one single solitary sport, even if that sport involves a cage and some five-ounce gloves.

McGuinty sees money to be made in gambling. Too bad he doesn’t see the same thing in MMA.

Here’s an excerpt from the Canadian Press news story about McGuinty’s view of online gambling. As you read it, mentally replace every reference to gambling with “MMA” or “MMA fighting.” It makes for a much better read.

Ontario is looking at cashing in on Internet gambling, following the lead of other Canadian provinces in having its lottery corporation possibly deliver online wagering.

Virtual gambling is a reality and the Ontario government obviously cannot ignore it for long, said Premier Dalton McGuinty.

“The issue is whether or not we should be involved in that, and I think we’re going to have to make a call,” McGuinty said.

“It’s something we can’t avoid.”

Paul Godfrey, the freshly minted chairman of Ontario Lottery and Gaming, said last week he wants the province to provide Internet gambling instead of watching potential revenues go to other provinces and offshore websites.

Canadian governments know they’re losing out on money that’s being spent at the more than 2,000 online gambling sites, said Jeff Derevensky of McGill University.

“They’ve done the studies,” said Derevensky, with the university’s International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High Risk Behaviours.

“If they can recoup a slice of it, then that (money) could be better used in government-run programs.”

Allowing the gaming corporation to offer gambling in the wild, unregulated world of the Internet doesn’t raise the same type of ethical questions as blocking the sale of beer and wine in corner stores, said McGuinty.

“We can control whether or not there’s corner-store sales for beer and wine, (but) Internet gambling is taking place,” he said. “The issue is what do we want to do in the face of that.”

Governments should be concerned about normalizing gambling, but they’ve already gone that route and even changed the name to gaming, said Derevensky.

“They’re selling a form of entertainment,” he said.

Young people who are taught about the dangers of alcohol, drugs and unprotected sex aren’t learning anything about gambling in school, added Derevensky, and many already use online gambling sites.

“It puts more young people at risk, (but) the reality is, they’re already doing it,” he said about governments getting into online gambling.

The Opposition said the Ontario government would need to make sure young people who shouldn’t be gambling don’t access gambling sites.

“The issue we need to deal with is the impact of it,” said Progressive Conservative critic Christine Elliott. “We need to make sure there are some controls in place to protect young people particularly.”