With the recession hurting economies worldwide, countries are looking into new ways to generate revenue. More and more countries are looking to online casinos as an avenue for more income. British Columbia is now the first Canadian province to legalize online gambling, and will have their online casinos, run by the B.C. Lottery Corp., up and running by March 2010.

For those readers unfamiliar with Canadian provinces, British Columbia is the country’s most southwestern province, located directly above the U.S. state of Washington. It is known for its forestry industry, fur trading, and soon online gambling. The people there speak English, though people in England or the United States might disagree.

B.C. Lottery Corporation CEO Michael Graydon stated that the move is designed to keep money that Canadians are currently spending at overseas online casinos. “Rather than it all going to offshore places like Antigua,” he said, “there’s an opportunity to keep it here in British Columbia.”

Indeed, it is estimated that citizens of British Columbia spend approximately $87 million at online casinos offshore, money that is untaxed and unregulated by the government of British Columbia. In anticipation of the legalization of online casinos, the B.C. Lottery Corporation has raised the weekly gambling limit for its players from $120 to $10,000.

The lifting of the ban, of course, is not without its critics. Shane Simpson of British Columbia’s New Democratic Party calls the move “unacceptable” and said that it does not take into consideration concerns about problem gambling. Graydon, however, said that provisions are in place “to prevent problem gamblers from losing too much money, such as a 24-hour cooling-off period before they can bet higher limits.”

The move by British Columbia would be the first legalization of online casinos by a government in North America.

Barney Frank has some friends in the Senate. Okay, probably not friends. I find it hard to believe anyone could actually like the guy, but Frank now has senatorial support in his fight to overturn the online gambling ban. Senator Robert Menendez, one of the few New Jersey politicians not currently under indictment, has introduced legislation that would repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), a bill almost identical to that proposed by Frank in the House of Representatives earlier this year. So, let’s update our tally of those fighting UIGEA: the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the World Trade Organization, and iMEGA.

Both bills seek to legalize and regulate online gambling. Ever since the passage of UIGEA in 2006, there has been controversy and confusion regarding which types of online gambling are legal and which are illegal. The new legislation would make it all legal and, of course, tax it like crazy. UIGEA is being attacked both on the belief that it is unconstitutional and on the belief that it would stimulate the economy, adding revenue from online gambling to a hurting economy.

I know what you’re thinking. Since when are Democrats concerned with stimulating the economy? I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it myself. The best answer I can come up with is that their unwillingness to help the economy is trumped by their desire for new taxes. If there’s one thing the Democrats love to do it’s tax you, and if they have to provide minor stimulus to the economy to do it, then so be it. On the other hand, since when does the government taking more money stimulate the economy? Repealing UIGEA would do nothing to create jobs or put extra money in the pockets of citizens, so it’s unlikely that there would really be much, if any, stimulative value in the proposed bills. Ah, finally it makes sense. It’s just about the greedy government wanting more money. So, politics as usual.