Figures released by Statistics Canada show that residents of the province of Saskatchewan love to gamble, with the provincial government taking in more gambling revenue per capita — $830 for every person over 18 – than any other province in the country.
The fact that Saskatchewan residents love to gamble comes as no surprise to me. After all, I was born in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, so I know the place and the people. The people are among the nicest in the world, so much so that we left our keys in the ignition when we parked our cars. You could go to sleep at night without locking the door to your house. The place…? Well, it has two seasons – winter and mosquito – and you don’t want to get caught outside during either one. You might think I’m exaggerating, but as a kid, I remember going swimming down at the local lake, and the mosquitoes would descend like Robert Duvall leading the helicopter assault on that Vietnamese village in Apocalypse Now. Seriously, nowadays, every time I hear Wagner’s Ride Of The Valkyries, I instinctively want to duck my head underwater.
With Saskatchewan residents being such huge gambling fans, I’m sure that if stats were available, they’d probably show the province leading the nation in online gamblers, as well. So it’s perfectly understandable that the provincial government is considering launching its own online gambling product, following in the footsteps of British Columbia – but not following those footsteps so closely that they trip over their own feet and perform a spectacular faceplant à la PlayNow.com.
In fact, if Saskatchewan was serious about going down this road, I’d be honored if they asked me, a native son with a wealth of experience, to provide them assistance as an advisor/consultant. If they were to ask for my help, I might have to consider buying back the family cabin up on Turtle Lake, but only after I’d reinforced the walls to keep out polar bears and the even more dangerous Saskatchewan mosquito. Read more.
