A Remarkable Follow-Up To Ontario's Attempts To Ban Gambling Advertising Online

The provincial government of Ontario’s proposal to ban Internet gambling advertising has met the ire of David Willmot, who is the chairman and also the chief executive officer of a very large Canadian entertainment group called Woodbine Entertainment Group.  Woodbine Entertainment Group is an organization that provides horse racing on which Canadians can bet.
According to an article recently written by Globe and Mail reporter James Christie of Toronto, Willmot demands that the Ontario government allow equal opportunity to compete with offshore Internet gambling companies. 

The paper reports that legislation before the Ontario Legislature is written in a way that would ban online advertising for gambling operations.  This would cripple businesses of this type within the Ontario jurisdiction.  In addition, a ban on advertising would also be hard on businesses that sell advertising space to online gambling sites.  Such as media outlets and the four Canadian Football League clubs, Hamilton, Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton, all of which hold agreements regarding on field advertising of online gambling sites. The Canadian Football League has already ceased its agreement with Bowmans Sportsbook, replacing it with a similar agreement with party poker.net which is a non-betting site.

Woodbine Entertainment Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, David Wilmot, called on the Ontario provincial government, saying that they should either throw the online gambling field wide-open in order to allow for the participation of domestic gambling concerns, or that they should pass legislation that would get rid of foreign-based World Wide Web gambling concerns, totally.  Willmot further said that his group would be happy in either case.  This situation with which he would be most happy he said, would be for continuation of the status quo. Wilmot said that laws already exist making online gambling illegal, which are not being enforced for the reason that the government is not able to lay its hands on those who operate such illegal gambling sites.

Willmot further pointed out to that in contrast to foreign-based World Wide Web gambling operations, if his domestic group tried to open up a sportsbook, online poker room, or other online casino, they would have the police at their front door the very next day.  This is because the legal authorities know where they are located.  Asked if he supported such legislation banning advertising, he said that he did, because he realizes that online gambling is not legal.  The way he put it is that the province has laws that are not being enforced. He said that you should either change the law or allow domestic groups to compete.

Furthermore, Willmot says that the moralistic position that is being taken by the United States by using the Wire Act Laws to completely prohibit online gambling, is the wrong way to go. 

The way Willmot put it is that the gambling online genie is out of the bottle, yet the United States is still trying to make a moral issue out of it.

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