Community Action: Gambling growing as a source of employment and government revenues

OTTAWA -- On average, Canadians aged 18 and over each spent $447 on gambling in 2001. Lotteries and casinos provide rising amounts of government revenues and has created employment, according to data gathered by Statistics Canada.

About 59% of households with incomes of less than $20,000 gambled in 2001, spending an average of $357. In contrast, 77% of households with incomes of $80,000 or more gambled, spending an average of $642.

Revenues (net of prizes) from government-run lotteries, video lottery terminals and casinos reached $11.3 billion in 2002, up 5.6% from 2001 and four times higher than a decade earlier.

Gambling yielded $6.0 billion in profit. The earnings were received from these sources: lotteries 27%; casinos, 34%; video lottery terminals, 23%; and slot machines outside casinos, 17%.

An estimated 42,000 men and women worked in the gambling industry in 2002; women occupied 55% of jobs in gambling, compared with 46% of jobs in non-gambling industries.

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