The Ottawa health dept. head has spoken against the fact that the city is encouraging to expand gaming in the city, which could make the city approve the establishment of a second casino. Dr. Isa Levy has stated in a report that was directed to the Ottawa Board of Health that he does not want to see an expansion of gaming in the city of Ottawa and that the increase in availability and access for gaming is bothering him greatly.
He stated that instead of the focus on gaming, the city should focus more on the closing of the gap between the 13k or more adults who are suffering from a gambling addiction in Ottawa and focus the available resource towards helping them. He stated that it is expected that the expansion of gambling and the establishment of a second casino will worsen the gambling problem of these people, so it is only reasonable to address the problem instead of making it much worse. He stated that with the expansion of gambling, they would have to invest more money in the future in order to support the increase of the number of problem gamblers.
The report also asked the province for 2 million dollars per year to be given to the LHIN to help with the treatment of local gambling problems which is almost 1.3 million dollars more than the 741,000 that it currently gets per year. It also asked that 6.5% of the annual commission of Ottawa from the OLG should go towards gambling outreach and prevention. It stated that currently, the city of Ottawa does not devote any percentage of the commission toward this case.
The councilor of the Ottawa city, Steve Desroches has stated that he understands where Dr. Isa Levy is coming from but he also stated that the city really need to create a new source of income and the casino will be that income. He also stated that he is not surprised by the report or the comment of Dr. Levy. He also stated that some of the money from the new casino is certainly going to go towards the programs that are dedicated to gambling treatment. The councilor of Beacon Hill–Cyrville, Tim Tierney has stated that he is 100% against gambling because he believes that it has disastrous social side effects. He also added that it does not fit with the model of the city of Ottawa.