Keno, the new game to hit bars and restaurants next month, may be scaled back by the province.
Chris d’Entremont, the acting finance minister, said the existing plan to introduce keno in 180 establishments across the province next month isn’t what he expected.
“The plan we had brought to us is a little different than what we expected and agreed upon so we’re trying to review that to see if this is the program or if we’re going to make changes to it,” he told reporters yesterday.
The timing is ahead of schedule, D’Entremont said, and the scope was beyond what they thought it would be.
“I think it will go ahead but it might not go in the full scope of the 180 sites across the province,” he said.
Staff within the Health Promotion and Protection department wrote a memo expressing their concerns that keno would increase the number of problem gamblers.
A spokeswoman for Health Promotion said the memo was sent to the minister but never left the department.
She added that they did provide the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation with their feedback.
Premier Rodney Macdonald said he was pleased the NSGC didn’t go with keno in 2007.
“Today we see a game that is more in line with the social responsibility of the responsible gaming strategy and they are moving forward with it,” he said.
