I woke up Christmas Day with a call from my horse trainer Earl Smith with the news that my 2 year old colt Sea Danny Win (after my oldest boy) had taken a virus which turned into a stomach knot and they had to put him down… and somewhere in my little brain the old words of wisdom from one of my favourite business mentors the late W. G. Barbour (or Wendell as he liked to be called) popped into my head…  “never buy a horse until you can afford ten of them” and then he threw in “and that goes for restaurants too”… and it got me thinking about Wendell and just how practical yet eccentric some of these old business guys were and what he’d be thinking if I told him what happened the horse.  I’m pretty sure he’d have something positive to say like “well you’re starting the New Year off great by cutting expenses”… well the good news is the older I get the more I’m beginning to understand just how some of these old guys became so eccentric (in a good way) in the first place and I’m thinking some of its rubbing off on me which takes me to today’s fish to fry…

“Why is Atlantic Lottery building casinos and restaurants when they’re supposed to be in the gaming business?” and I couldn’t help wondering that when they recently opened another new “casino/restaurant” in Summerside, PEI, which is paramount to putting lifeguards on the beaches in Cavendish during February.  Don’t get me wrong as I’m not against Atlantic Lottery investing into the harness racing industry by putting up bigger purses and getting fees for managing the pari-mutuels and where some money goes back into the harness racing industry but putting two bucks into a slot machine doesn’t put much back into the pockets of the people working in the industry… I guess when I think about this whole situation of gaming in the first place I think about our various Liquor Commissions and how the licensing of liquor is controlled by Government operated by Crown agencies and is far better than “bootlegging” or whatever other schemes would have transpired had we not as a society set up some regulations and systems to control it… that being said many years have passed and the Liquor Commissions have done a great job of managing the control and distribution of liquor but you don’t see “them” investing in restaurants, in bars, in casinos or the manufacturing of any form of spirits yet they can boast they make a lot of money that comes back to our Governments to be used on social programs… so why can’t Atlantic Lottery do the same and “stick to their knitting” of “gaming” and let private operators take the risks of investing and operating whatever other support systems the ALC need to keep their players happy… the answer could be either, “out of control Governments”, who are directing their hand appointed Board members to funnel more patronage producing enterprises into their constituencies, whether they make sense or not, or it’s the Corporate leadership at the top that is out of control… and after watching the arrogance of Atlantic Lottery’s staff roll into Charlottetown this summer and “rip” the signage off the Charlottetown Driving Park after being branded as such for over a hundred years and then throw up a new name “The Red Shores Driving Park and Casino” www.redshores.ca just shows how out of touch and power hungry these people are…  I had the opportunity to meet ALC’s President Michelle Carinci once during a round of golf at Fox Harbour and she seemed more absorbed in defending the criticism she was taking from a Nova Scotia MLA about her high salary than talking about the positive things ALC could be doing… so my guess is it’s the Leadership out of control coupled with the ever changing Governments that allow Atlantic Lottery Corporation to branch out into something that’s not their business…

And, just the other day the horse farrier tried to put a new set of “shoes” on my filly Sea Carrie Win (after my Princess wife) and four broken ribs later and a concussion he’s learning like me that it’s not an easy job getting them to try on a new pair of shoes, especially if they don’t like it….  here’s another post I did back in the summer on Atlantic Lottery http://www.timbanks.ca/2009/07/seeing-red-silly-change.html