A Vancouver activist says she is not surprised by a new B.C. government report that found increased calls to a problem-gambling help line after a casino opened in Langley.

Claudia Ferris, a cofounder of the anti-gambling group Stop the Slots in Hastings Park, says the data from the City of Langley and the Township of Langley add voice to her opposition to slot machines in Hastings Park. “It's certainly what we were worried about with the slot machines,” Ferris told the Georgia Straight.

?“Gambling preys on people in vulnerable neighbourhoods,” she said, noting that there is greater risk of problem gambling in communities like the Downtown Eastside. Ferris added that it was wrong to allow the Edgewater Casino to open in the Plaza of Nations and the pending addition of 600 slot machines to Hastings Park Racecourse.

“I live in a [East Vancouver] neighbourhood struggling with poverty and addiction,” Ferris said. “We don't need any more.”

On June 2, the B.C. government released its first report on the social and economic impacts of the opening of four new Greater Vancouver gambling venues: the February 3, 2005, opening of Edgewater Casino, the addition of slot machines at Surrey's Fraser Downs racetrack on June 24, 2005, as well as the anticipated (depending on the outcome of a legal challenge) slots at Hastings Park, and the May 5, 2005, opening of Cascades Casino in Langley.

The 153-page report, Determining Socio-Economic Impacts of New Gaming Venues in Four Lower Mainland Communities, by Victoria-based consultants Blue Thorn Research and Analysis Group, is still preliminary, given the relatively short time between the opening of the venues and the collection of data. However, the report says that more people are calling a government-operated help line for those with gambling problems since the installation of slot machines at Fraser Downs and the opening of Cascades Casino.

“There appears to be a statistically significant increase in calls to the problem-gambling help line by residents in the Langleys in the eight months since the Cascades casino opened,” the report says. “A similar effect is observed in Surrey but not in Vancouver. This may be driven by increased awareness or an increase in cases of problem gambling in the Langleys””or greater existing levels of saturation crowding in Vancouver.”

Despite this, the report warns that the numbers cannot be used to infer a causal effect.

“The calling rate can be influenced by many things other than the new venues,” it says, citing advertisements for the help line and news coverage of problem gambling. The report also notes “increased convenience” for people who want to gamble. “This is especially true in the Fraser Valley, where many patrons were first time gamblers.”

The data also show an increase in new gamblers and an increase in average spending on gambling. “Further study is needed to determine if these increases are related to the study casinos opening or simply coincidence,” the report says.

Casinos are often touted as offering a boon to tourism. However, according to the report, so far there has been “no measurable effect” on tourism from outside B.C. “At present, it appears the overwhelming majority of patronage is local.”

The consultants plan to collect the final set of data this November.

In the year ending last March 31, the B.C. government expected to receive about $900 million in revenue from casinos, lotteries, bingo, slot machines, and horse racing. The government pays this out to a range of agencies, including those doing health-care services and research, nonprofit community organizations, and local governments.

Jagrup Brar, the opposition NDP's gambling critic, says he is worried about the effectiveness of the government's programs for those with gambling problems.

Brar told the Straight that in 2004, 1,206 requests were made for counselling in connection with problem gambling, but just 737 actually received counselling. “In other words, 469 did not get counselling,” Brar said. “I do have serious concerns about the way the government has managed the treatment program for problem gamblers.”

Meanwhile, on May 2, 2006, the B.C. Supreme Court granted Edgewater protection from creditors, according to a May 24 city staff report to Vancouver city council.

“Edgewater Casino has been unable to operate on a profitable basis,” says the report, adding that Nevada-based Paragon Gaming Inc. plans to purchase all Edgewater shares.

The British Columbia Lottery Corporation initially projected the casino would bring in annual revenue of about $125 million. However, during its first year it generated only $73 million, the report says.

Before the casino was approved in 2004, it was expected to bring the city about $6.5 million annually.

“However, given the changing regional gaming market conditions and the delay in opening the casino, only $3.4 million revenues were realized by the city in 2005,” says the report. In the first quarter of 2006, the facility produced $985,000 for the city.

The report notes that the casino provides about 600 jobs.