Ontario Could Be Next To Legalize Online Gambling

It was just a few short weeks ago that the British Columbia Lottery Corporation launched North America’s first legalized online gambling website. However; after just hours of operation, the site was shut down due to security issues.

Now, with the U. S. Congress on the verge of pushing through legislation to lift the ban on Internet gaming in the States, another Canadian province may be looking at web-based gambling as a way to boost its struggling economy.

According to reports, Ontario could be looking at a plan to legalize another state-run online gambling operation north of the American boarder.

Like in British Columbia, the Internet gambling website would be government controlled through the lottery system. Its intent would be to generate tax dollars.

“Money is going out of this province to other provinces as well as offshore sites,” said Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation chairman Paul Godfrey. “At this point we can’t ignore it.”

Ontario is facing an almost $20 billion budget deficit this year.