Gambling on Addiction: How Governments Rely on Problem Gamblers

"As my heart rate increases, I learned that even the illusion of winning gives players a blast of dopamine, like a chemical jackpot for the brain."

"Unlike card games or horse races, bets on a slot machine come fast and furiously. According to Harrigan (Gambling Research Lab at the University of Waterloo), the industry average is about 1,000 spins an hour. Studies suggest the rapid-fire gambling increases the onset of addiction."¹

"It's a program called Self-Exclusion, common at casinos across Canada. Ontario's casinos now have facial recognition software. Once they're isolated and identified via the cameras at fixed entrances for example, the alerts are sent to the operator at which time the operator can make an informed decision on the self-excluded individual as to next steps."

"It began in 1975 with a single lottery called Wintario, with spinning balls and televised draws. The lottery made a meagre $43 million profit in its first year of operation, but that was then. This is now. Today, the gleaming OLG is the biggest provincial gaming corporation in Canada, with more than 18,000 employees, generating $7.5 billion in gross revenues for a deficit-ridden government."²

"Depending on the jurisdiction and the time period between 15 to 50% of gambling revenue comes from problem gamblers … addicts pump billions a year into government run casinos across Canada. If your revenue base is hinged on drawing a good portion of your money from an addictive population, that's a problematic business enterprise."³

"There's one policy the OLG enforces rigorously: if you are self-excluded and you win big, you're out of luck. So, gamblers on the banned list are free to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in the casino, but the minute they win a jackpot of more than $10,000, casino reps won't pay them out, they'll kick them out of the casinos."

¹ Research has identified speed of play as an important structural feature of gambling. Games with higher event frequencies have been associated with gambling-related harm, including greater monetary losses and difficulty stopping, while experimental research has found that faster play can impair a player's ability to inhibit responses.
² OLG's financial contribution to Ontario remains substantial. In fiscal 2024–25, OLG reported approximately $9.3 billion in total proceeds across retail lottery, land-based gaming, and digital gaming, with approximately $2.25 billion in net profit delivered to the Province of Ontario.
³ Research estimates vary considerably by jurisdiction, gambling activity, and methodology, but reviews have generally found that approximately 15–50% of gambling revenue may come from people experiencing problem gambling. Canadian research has similarly found that people with gambling problems can account for a disproportionately large share of gambling revenue.