A gaming technology solutions provider in Sydney is positioning itself to compete for new contract opportunities in national and international markets. The province, through Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI), is supporting Tech Link International Entertainment Ltd. with a $1.5-million secured loan.There's a sort of brilliance in this---the government continues to deepen its dependence on VLT income, which disproportionately negatively affects VLT addicts, then papers over the addiction issues by requiring a bogus card system that supposedly monitors a gambler's usage, then props up the card company in the name of "job creation."“In the early stages of growth, supporting an innovative company like Tech Link helps position it to secure international opportunities,” said Economic and Rural Development and Tourism Minister Percy Paris today, Aug. 18. “Tech Link’s innovative technology and ability to compete globally is in line with the province’s jobsHere plan to grow the economy.”
Tech Link’s focus is on its Gameplan product, called My-Play in Nova Scotia, a responsible gaming technology that can be integrated into existing video lottery terminals. Gameplan was developed in partnership with the Atlantic Lottery Corporation and Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, and equips players with tools to limit and control their gaming habits.
Is it possible that private banks think the card system will actually work, that Nova Scotia will soon run out of gambling addicts and so the entire gambling regime will come crashing down financially, and therefore won't pony up loans to Tech Link? More likely, I think, is that the government is simply providing a lower interest rate than the banks would provide.
This isn't the first time the province has given Tech Link financial assistance; the company received $2 million in taxpayer money in 2004, and another $1 million in 2007.
The Tech Link loan recalls two other recent moves by the province that suggest this "economic development" business is a loaded deck.
First, in February, the province awarded a $3,199,500 contract to an Amherst company to install 2,500 LED lights on the province's highways, the first of what presumably will be more such contracts. As I understand it, the specs for the lights were so narrowly written that the only company that could realistically supply the lights was LED Roadway Lighting Ltd, and sure enough, iin March $10 million in "financial assistance" extended to LED Roadway Lighting Ltd, to improve its Amherst facility, and then another $4 million in June. That's on top of a $6 million "equity investment" made in 2009.
The federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency also extended a half million dollars to the company, in May, which is additional to the $5.1 million previously extended to the company.
Second, last year the province extended $2 million in "financial assistance" to Seaforth Energy, a Dartmouth firm that makes wind turbines. There are a lot of sour grapes related to the province's COMFIT program for small renewable energy producers, but it's been suggested to me that the COMFIT wind turbine sizes were written specifically to benefit Seaforth.
So there's at least an alleged entanglement of policy directives and economic development decisions. I'm of mixed feelings about this---my young idealist socialist self thinks that at least the province is getting some equity stake in some of the companies---finally, the people own the means of production!---and maybe policy makers in different departments are talking about coherent cross-policies, or, to put it another way, we've achieved a centralized state economy. But my older cynical self thinks this kind of "rig the regs and invest in the rigged winner" game is, well, icky, and a recipe for corruption.
But forget about my internal conflicts. What interests me is how "free market" enthusiasts can honestly support such a rigged game: we are a long, long way from anything that looks like an open market.
