Alberta’s Catholics Call Halt to Gambling

Bishop Luc Bouchard of St. Paul has called a halt to all gambling within his diocese – and the churches, parishioners, organizations, and schools have three years in which to eliminate it from their ways of making money. Bouchard says that gambling has completely infiltrated their way of life in Alberta, and that they need to come up with other ways of bringing in revenue that does not pray on the weak.

There are seventeen permanent casinos in Alberta, as well as 6,000 VLT’s, 8,000 slot machines, five racetracks, three racing centers, 2,300 lottery ticket centers, etc. – all of which bring in more than $1.3 billion a year to the province. Bouchard says that the ethical and moral ramifications of the gambling in their province have all but ceased to concern anyone because they are so ever present.

He says it took less than 30 years for the province to change their ways, and not in a good way. He said that he is not the first one to call a halt to the gambling as other groups have tried within the past ten years to have VLT’s banned, but that the pro-VLT Alberta Hotel Association has more money to spend on keeping people addicted than they have to fight them.

He said that they keep talking about the people’s right to choose whether or not they want to play slot machines and gamble and that the church was censoring their rights. Bouchard says he is concerned because legalized gambling always prays on the poor, who do not have an understanding of what it is they are doing and how they are hurting themselves.

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