Prince Edward Island’s (PEI) Minister of Financial has called an online ad for a casino instructional event “absolutely inappropriate,” according to a local report in CBC News.
Finance Minister Jill Burridge affirmed that the advertisement was "off the mark of what we would expect through the responsible gaming strategy.”
The ad plugged a “Casino 101” event at Red Shores scheduled for Saturday night, the local report said. At “Casino 101,” where players would have learned how to play a variety of games the facility offers.
Following the finance minister’s comment, the ad was taken off the Red Shores Racetrack Casino’s website.
Pushback against the ad stemmed from concerns that the event “was not in line with the Island’s responsible gaming strategy.”
Opposition and interim Liberal leader Hal Perry first raised the issue in the PEI legislature earlier in the week. He addressed lawmakers twice, asking what the government had done to take action, the local report said.
Though the ad is no longer on the site, the event will proceed as scheduled.
In related news, the PEI Government recently published an update on its responsible gaming strategy. The PEI Lotteries Commission and the consulting firm MRSB worked together to develop the updated version.
This is the first change made since the original provincial strategy was published in 2008.
The update recommends that “the province develop player cards for casino games and VLTs which could be used to implement deposit and loss limits and provide feedback on play habits.”
The new strategy also recommends that VLTs be removed from sites that allow alcohol consumption while gambling, those that do not offer sufficient responsible gambling support and from those that promote prolonged play.
