After British Columbia became the first to launch a legalized, government-run online casino, now the Saskatchewan government in Canada is apparently looking into developing online gambling portals themselves. Saskatchewan seeks partnership with its First Nations to gain entrance into the stream of revenues that is and will be flowing into Canada because of the growing phenomena of online gambling.

Saskatchewan currently runs two land-based casinos along with thousands of video lottery terminals. Gaming Minister, Ken Cheveldayoff said on Tuesday, as a response to the Ontario government’s position on online gaming that they too will have an online gaming program set up by early 2012. Alberta is another providence in Canada that is also turning in the same direction along with Quebec and Ontario.

The Provincial Minister of Finance for Ontario, Dwight Duncan has said they’ve been considering this for some time now and that they’d start offering services in 2012. It is said that the venture will create a total of $100 million Canadian dollars per annum within five years by the government in tax revenues alone. Ontario will begin by designating operators from the government owned Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation to start online casinos and it is believed other providences will do the same.

Ever since PlayNow.com was launched, the first-ever government run online casino site,  Saskatchewan wants to be included in earning the gaming revenue that is currently lost to offshore online gambling operators as well as the other providences. PlayNow.com had a rough start, however, when it launched in July and after only a few hours had to take the site down after a software problem caused a security breach which left over a hundred people with their personal information exposed such as bank information.

Guy Lonechild, head of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations has stated that he believes that the issue needs ‘further study’ but that “you can bet we are looking into that opportunity.” It is estimated that $40 million is spent annually by Saskatchewan residents at offshore online gambling sites and most agree that keeping that revenue inside their own borders is the better bet.