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An informal, stream-of-consciousness reflection on business ideas, events and issues in modern business, modern life and with some specifics to the web-software industry by Paul Tomori, Internet Entrepreneur

Another Transfer of Wealth Courtesy of the Government By Paul Tomori Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 15:04:12 (EDT) As if the bricks and mortar gambling palaces weren't enough, now we are going to have online gambling courtesy of our provincial government. Their justification is that existing (out-of-country) online gambling is depriving our tax base of a perfectly good revenue source, so to be "competitive", we must have our own online systems. Here's the article: Ontario Gambling Online In a great economy, gambling can be a diversion for those with extra dollars to burn. The trouble is that in a good economy, those can least afford to wager their cash resources away are the ones who indulge the practice. Yet, here we are in a recessionary economy. What we need is more productivity and more wealth creation, not more wealth transfers. Let's face it, Las Vegas (or any gambling locale for that matter), in all its glory is predominantly a place where money exchanges hands (usually from the masses into the coffers of the casinos). As a rule, very little wealth is actually "created" in Vegas. It gets created elsewhere, then transferred in Vegas. As I have written before, I believe people should be allowed to make their own decisions about how they invest (or fritter away) their cash, and perhaps, it does make sense to have a government-controlled online gambling system that keeps Ontario money in Ontario, but overall, the concept distracts from wealth growth and puts people's attention on wealth transfer.... and THAT is our government pouring gasoline on a fire that it is simultaneously trying to extinguish. Return To Blog Index