Kamloops wants cut of online gambling revenue

The city of Kamloops in British Columbia calls for a share or revenues generated by state-run PlayNow.com site.

Canada.- The city of Kamloops in British Columbia is seeking a cut of online gambling revenue from PlayNow.com as lockdown measures remain in place in the province.

PlayNow.com is the official online gambling site of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation.

On March 16, British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) enforced all casinos in the province to close following directives issued by the provincial health authority.

Kamloops hosts two Gateway casinos in the city but both are closed due to the Coronavirus lockdown.

Kamloops city councillor Arjun Singh, told fellow councillors on Tuesday (April 21) that an unidentified source at the BCLC had informed him that PlayNow.com had seen its business ‘increase significantly’ following the stay at home measures due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Singh also said that Kamloops does not receive any funds from online gambling, even though the city’s residents can use PlayNow.

He said: “Obviously, they can track where folks are coming from. If some of that activity has been displaced online now and, obviously, we have a big revenue hole, I wonder whether there is a possibility for us to actually try to lobby for that, try and talk to the province about whether they could replace some of that funding we lost through the offline casinos.”