BC Lottery Corporation Makes National News

This morning when I picked up the Victoria Times Colonist with my coffee, a tiny headline in the bottom-left corner of the front page jumped right out at me: B.C. Lottery Raises Online Limit to $9,999. The Globe and Mail ran a similar article, casting the nation’s spotlight on the issue.

The BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is the provincial crown corporation that governs all gaming in the province, including lotteries, casinos, and sports wagering. BCLC has always been quite progressive compared to other provincial or state lottery agencies, and was one of the first to offer online versions of most of their games through an online system. The really do quite a decent job for a government-run organization. They still fall way short of offshore sportsbooks in my opinion, but that’s not a discussion for right now.

Starting today, BCLC has increased the maximum weekly limit for players using its online system from $120 per player per week to $9,999! That is around 80 times the previous limit. With the provincial government running a deficit after years of surpluses, it’s hardly surprising to see them try to increase gaming revenues. On the other side, some very vocal critics contend that this will be detrimental to problem gamblers and their families. It is a debate that is likely to raise a lot of questions, and point a lot of fingers. There is not much to sugarcoat here: we’re talking about gambling, and in some unfortunate situations, it can lead to serious problems. But social impacts notwithstanding, gambling is very much legal, and is extremely big business.

Part of the reason that gambling is such big business is that operators – whether it be legal offshore sportsbooks, land-based casinos, and even provincial gaming commissions – have a tremendous, manufactured edge over the average bettor. On top of that, there is absolutely no transparency provided by operators whatsoever. When was the last time you bought a lottery ticket and the clerk at the terminal said “oh, and you have now spent $575 so far this year on lottery tickets”? Never. When was the last time you logged into your favorite online sportsbook account and next to your account balance it said “You are down $830 so far this month on sports wagering”. Once again, the answer is never.

There is a reason these operators do not provide this information: your losses are their profits. Why would they tell you to stop? You would stop all of your spending with them if you knew how much you were actually spending.

And that is the reason we started Bet Smart Media.

We want to provide transparency to those that use legal online sportsbooks. We want to give them a window into their wagering habits for the first time ever. We want people to win. Or at minimum, not lose! While the majority of the tools in the soon-to-be-launched WagerTrax application focus on increasing your profits, it includes a number of measures designed to protect you from the less glamorous side of wagering. We will notify you when you’ve reached your personal limits. We’ll give you full statements of all your activity across all sportsbooks you use every month… think of it as a bank statement for your wagering. We’ll show you where you’ve been successful with your wagers, and where you have not.

This morning’s news about the BCLC couldn’t be more timely for Bet Smart Media. While we do not pretend to have all of the answers or have absolute power to protect people from problem gambling, we genuinely feel that WagerTrax will be a step in the right direction towards individuals having greater control over their wagering behavior using our wager management tools.

And with all of that heavy discussion out of the way, time to go watch the Blue Jays play the Red Sox!