B.C. disproportionately taxes the poor though gambling to pay for government programs.
Ontario’s gambling scheme is ripe for reform.
The pandemic has highlighted both the importance of improving financial security for Ontarians and provided a unique opportunity for the province to cut its gambling addiction cold turkey: with casinos shut down and OLG revenue plummeting, the costs of getting clean have never been lower, write Brian Dijkema and Johanna Wolfert in Policy Options.
"Disentangling gambling money from legitimate tax revenue by moving OLG profits into a specific fund — preferably aimed at relief of poverty — would be the equivalent of the government admitting it has a problem."