Woodbine Internet betting site under fire as Justice investigates
By SUE BAILEY
OTTAWA (CP) - The federal Justice Department is investigating Woodbine Entertainment Group's new online betting site as critics demand it be shut down.
Only provincial governments are authorized under the Criminal Code to run Internet gambling, but none have so far risked a potential public backlash. More than 2,000 betting sites available online tend to be based offshore or on native reserves in attempts to skirt legal restrictions.
Justice Department spokesman Sylvain Beaudry confirmed Friday that the site for the Toronto-based Woodbine group - HorsePlayer Interactive - debuted last month without related changes to the Criminal Code.
"Get on track in seconds flat," it offers. "It's the fastest, easiest, most convenient way to bet anytime."
Beaudry said the department is investigating.
"'There was no change to the Criminal Code," he said in an interview.
"We've gotten letters in the department on this issue, and we're looking at it."
Beaudry said he couldn't comment further until more is known, likely in a few weeks.
Gambling critic Sol Boxenbaum says the Woodbine site should be shut down.
"They're clearly breaking an existing law that says you can't gamble on the Internet," said the head of the Montreal-based counselling firm Viva Consulting.
"They've decided that they're interpreting the law to define the telephone and the computer as being the same thing."
The public should have a chance to debate the pros and cons before "opening the floodgates" to Internet gambling, Boxenbaum said.
"Let them convince the minister of Justice and have the Criminal Code amended. Until then, it's illegal."
Unlike provincially run casinos and lotteries, horse-racing is regulated by the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency under the federal Agriculture Department.
The agency argues that telephone betting has been allowed for years, and that its regulations were changed last year to simply allow bets to be made using "any telecommunication device."
Regulations were changed to keep pace with technological advances, said Bob McReavy, Ontario manager for the agency.
"Years ago you actually phoned to a person" to place a bet at the track, he said in an interview.
"Then you were able to punch over the keypad of a telephone. And now you can punch in over the keypad of a computer."
The system bars players under the age of 19 by requiring proof of age and residency, said McReavy. Money must also be deposited up front to open an account and place bets, he said.
But a call to the toll-free Woodbine line revealed some possible glitches.
"You photocopy your driver's licence and you mail it in to us or you fax it in to us," the operator told The Canadian Press.
"And if you decide to fax it in, you have to blow it up to the largest setting because usually when they come through the fax it's a bit dark."
Boxenbaum says the system is "wide open" for abuse.
"It's very easy today for young people to get ID from an older sibling or even to forge it themselves.
Internet gambling has been so tightly restricted because "it's impossible to regulate," he said.
Justice Canada isn't the only office hearing concerns.
"Oh, yes," said Sgt. Bill Sword of the Ontario Provincial Police illegal gambling unit when asked if complaints were coming in.
A few calls a week have been received, but they have been passed on to the pari-mutuel agency, he said.
Brian Yealland, of the Ontario citizens group Gambling Watch Network, says authorities have so far passed the buck.
"Our problem with this is that nobody seems to want to . . . act on this. The politicians want to stay away from it."
