We are pleased to announce that we have received a grant from Gambling Awareness Nova Scotia (GANS) to continue our development of a creative and fun interactive workshop that engages participants in simulating the impacts of VLTs on a community. This helps people see beyond the individual harms to the ripple effects that impact those who are not even involved in gambling. Watch our web site and Facebook page as we roll this out in 2021.
We are,however, concerned that the provincial government has decided to dissolve GANS and divert some funds away from gambling issues.
The provincial gov’t is dissolving Gambling Awareness Nova Scotia (GANS). GANS has been instrumental over the years in supporting community projects around gambling that aim to create safer communities. The provincial gov’t let us know they are potentially diverting a chunk of the GANS resource (which comes from gambling revenues) to more general mental health issues. We would like to see the resources go to community health promotion efforts focused on reducing gambling harms instead.
GRINS has been working on these issues for ten years (see timeline). We are not an anti-gambling organization – we seek to create a community cultural shift towards informed and caring gambling practices, and a shift away from blaming the victims (labelled “problem gamblers”) to identifying “gambling problems” caused by unsafe technologies and ineffective regulation. (The province is in conflict of interest as both regulator and beneficiary of the income.)
For immediate release. August 22, 2014 The Kings Community Action Group on Gambling (KCAGoG) would like to address our concerns with the province’s decision to abandon the My Play System for VLT gambling. This is a lost opportunity to reduce gambling harms to Nova Scotian citizens. The problems highlighted about the system were due to…
When it comes to gambling, Canadians have plenty of skin in the game. Last year, we spent about $13 billion on legal, government-run gambling. That’s more than we spend on movies, hockey tickets, and Tim Horton’s — combined. Everybody knows that provincial governments in Canada love those gambling revenues, but the dirty little secret is…
Here are a couple of recent articles from the Kentville Advertiser. Note that they incorrectly describe our Chair, Bruce Dienes as a sociologist. Bruce’s Ph.D. is in Psychology. http://www.kingscountynews.ca/News/Local/2014-08-28/article-3849945/Kings-Community-Action-Group-questioning-province%26rsquo%3Bs-gambling-strategy/1 Brief Excerpt follows. Click on the link above for the full article. Members of a Valley activist group are concerned about the province’s decision last week…
GRINS-Annual Report March2018 Kings Community Action Group on Gambling officially changed its name to Gambling Risk Informed Nova Scotia Society. This reflects our desire to reach out as a model to other regions of the province and to clarify our purpose to create an informed and caring community that promotes wellness and empowers citizens to…
Due to the COVID-19 situation, all events at the Legion in Wolfville have been cancelled for the next while. We will reschedule once things have stabilized. Thank you for your interest and support! Bruce Chair, Gambling Risk Informed Nova Scotia Society VLT’s Removed from Wolfville Legion Award for Creating Safer Communities to…