Recorded presentation

David A. Korn, MD, DTPH, Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, 12 Queen's Park Crescent West, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada, (416) 978-8498, david.korn@utoronto.ca

Beginning in the early 1990’s, Canada experienced a dramatic increase in legalized gambling driven by governments’ need to increase revenue without additional taxation. . There is no legal private sector gambling. Gambling exists only within the public sector under the legal mandate of the federal Criminal Code of Canada. Authority and responsibility for gambling operations are delegated to the ten provinces and three territories which carry out multiple roles as owner, manager, advertiser and regulator of all legal gambling. In addition, they maintain a central role in gambling problem prevention and treatment programming.

This presentation will examine gambling in Canada from a public health perspective utilizing a public health framework for gambling developed by the author and Howard Shaffer. This broad public health approach takes into consideration the wider health, social and economic costs and benefits, and gives priority to the needs of high risk and vulnerable people. It will describe the Canadian gambling economy and epidemiology as well as Canadian data on health, social and economic cost and benefits. Selected examples of innovative prevention and harm reduction initiatives from across Canada will be highlighted.

The author developed a position paper for the Canadian Public Health Association on gambling expansion as an emerging public health issue which was adopted at its Annual General Meeting in 2000. The conference paper will provide an overview of this policy initiative and the responses of Canadian federal, provincial and territorial governments as well as related initiatives of the Canadian Public Health Association.

Learning Objectives:

• Learning Objectives
• 1. Raise awareness of gambling as a Public Health issue.
• 2. Describe the impact of gambling expansion in Canada and its implications on health and public policy.
• 3. Demonstrate public health action in the gambling field by describing the Canadian Public Health Association Initiative.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation