MAYOR Philip Owen admits he gambles. He's been to Las Vegas and played the slot machines. At one point he was up C$350 (HK$1,950).
Nevertheless he's determined to keep the scourge of one-armed bandits out of Vancouver. So determined, in fact, that he's willing to bet a wad of the city's legal affairs budget that he can win his case in court.
The provincial Government controls gambling in British Columbia. It recently decided to allow slot machines in casinos, a number of which operate in Vancouver under an agreement to give half their profits to charity and 10 per cent to the province.
Vancouver gets nothing, Mr Owen was quick to point out as his council voted to ban slot machines and limit the size of existing casinos.
Gambling has been a long-running controversy in Vancouver.
Supporters who prefer the more frivolous term 'gaming' would like to introduce resort-type casinos to compete against the ones in Washington state which attract (admission-free) busloads of punters, mainly Asians, from Canada each day.
