Resident witnessed social tragedy of gambling

North Bay resident Don Priebe voiced his opposition Monday night to a proposed racetrack and slots facility in North Bay. Photo by Phil Novak, BayToday.ca.

Don Priebe says he has witnessed the “social tragedy” horseracing and all forms of gambling has had on his family.

And he wanted city council members to ponder his words before deciding whether to approve a racetrack that includes a lot facility.

Shaped his views
Priebe was among a number of presenters at a two-and-a-half-hour public meeting Monday night regarding a rezoning application by Nipissing Entertainment for the project, to be built on land it owns on Birch’s Road.

The meeting was held even though the province announced last week there would be no new casinos or slots facilities at racetracks, beyond what was already approved prior to a moratorium on the issue.

Priebe said he was born and brought up in Fort Erie, which has had a racetrack since 1887.

The social impact that horse racing “levelled” on local families in Fort Erie, Priebe said, shaped his views on all forms of gambling.

This immorality
Priebe said an aunt of his had married into a family where gambling “played havoc” for the past three generations.

“Unrestrained gambling at the track, involvement in illegal gambling houses, illegal bookies, high-stakes poker, substance abuse in all forms, prostitution, smoking addictions, mental illness, bankruptcy, crime, and even murder, has insidiously infiltrated the very fabric of this family,” Priebe said.

“It is only now this present generation is slowly regaining control of this immorality that has plagued them for so long.”

His family, Priebe added, “was not alone” in their struggle.

Just tax us
Most recently, Priebe said, the province of Ontario had admitted that 45 per cent of the revenues from gambling in the province “comes from the 11 per cent cited as addicted gamblers.”

The proponents of the racetrack/slots facility, Nipissing Entertainment, had told North Bay council the city would receive $1.6 million in revenues from the operation.

Priebe said if the city “dearly needs” that money “just tax us for it,” drawing a few derisive remarks from the full council chamber.

Far outweigh
Strathcona Drive resident Charlie Campbell said the racetrack would hinder the city’s chances of selling industrial land for $1 an acre.

“Why the change? What industrial firm would want to locate adjacent to a gaming facility and racetrack.”

Campbell said the reasons council should oppose the rezoning request “far outweigh any benefits gained.”

Destroy the neighbourhood
Enrolment at Nipissing University and Canadore College would drop if slot gaming was approved as part of the racetrack, Campbell said, “and you could be sure parents of those perspective students will have second thoughts before enrolling their child in a community where gambling facilities are readily available.”

Campbell said the proposed location of the facility is within “walking distance” of a high school, and a populated urban area with several “subsidized” living complexes.

“The very impact of having slot gaming facilities so handy will easily destroy the neighbourhood,” Campbell said.

“Do you want a horse barn in your back yard? I don’t.”

More misery
Jim Liddell, who represents an organization called Church Food Banks, which provided food to 1,700 people per month last year.

“We provide food because there’s a need,” Liddell said.

He said his organization is “very concerned” about the proposed track.

“We have to ask ourselves if problem gamblers will spend their money on gambling or eating and feeding their families,” Liddell said.

“Quite frankly more misery is something we don’t want to see. We see enough of it already.”

Happen here
Callander resident Meg Purdy said fear concerning the racetrack has mostly to do with the plan to include slots.

“Yes there would be some jobs associated with this, and yes, it’s happening in other places, but does it have to happen here,” Purdy said.

Anne Clark said that when Nipissing’s proposal first came to council last year, 350,000 was the addicted number being used in Ontario.”

Today, Clark added, the number of addicted gamblers in Ontario has risen to 500,000.

Clark’s husband Bill, an anti-gambling activist, said North Bay would lose $50 million from the local economy from slots gambling and betting on the horses.

Clark also said the money lost through gambling represents 2,000 jobs "that would never reach the community.

"How can you take $50 million a year out of the community and not feel it?"