Who will fill the lottery license gap?

Ken Johnston
Editor

Have lottery license. Will travel.

Those words could make a whole lot of groups happy in Rainy River and other communities where groups that have historically been raising money for their communities for decades.
While the legislation has not changed since 1998, the way it is being interpreted seems to have taken a huge leap from where it was in the not so distant past.
Municipal lottery license issuers have been instructed to enforce the law to the letter and that has virtually crippled non-profit groups like the Chamber of Commerce, the RR Hosp. Aux., the Fire Department, the Recreation Board and likely more to come.
Why has this all of a sudden changed? Is it a political ploy by the Ontario Government to force small town fundraising out of the gambling business in order to promote greater usage of Provincially run casinos?
That might work in Southern Ontario, but here we are five hours from the nearest casino, which is in Thunder Bay.
If not, perhaps it is the government just doing a little tightening of the screws on its laws pertaining to gambling.
There are laws that affect the masses on a daily basis. Laws ment to serve as guidelines to keep society from spinning out of control. Laws like the speed limit. Everyone knows you can drive up to 10 km over the speed limit and not get pulled over.
Drinking and driving legal limits start at .08 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood. Up to that point you can legally drive unless a policeman deems that you are impaired by their judgement.
So here we are with groups that have for the better part of the last century have held raffle after raffle, granted a lottery license time and time again. Proceeds from their efforts have built such things as a new park, opened a museum, planted flowers, helped graduates go to college or university, purchased hospital equipment, purchased playground equipment, improved the local recreational facilities, bought fire protection equipment, and much, much more.
So who will pay for those now? The government? I think not.
–Until then,
Ken