But Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak warns Ontario taxpayers should be leery if Premier Dalton McGuinty bets on Internet gaming here.

As the Star disclosed on Saturday, McGuinty’s administration, which is wrestling with a $19.7 billion budget deficit, is “exploring” the possibility of expanding the gambling industry.

Insiders say the move is designed to “repatriate” hundreds of millions of dollars that Ontario gamblers bet offshore every year from the comfort of their computer keyboards.

Government sources said Monday that the bonanza could be an additional $500 million a year on top of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s (OLG) $1.9 billion profit in 2009.

In February, OLG chairman Paul Godfrey, retained by McGuinty to fix problems at the troubling gambling monopoly, said the province had to look online for future growth.

“It’s something that I would explore . . . (because) money is going out of this province to other provinces as well as offshore sites,” Godfrey said at the time.

“The fact is that it’s there at the present time all around us.”

But Hudak, who has praised Godfrey’s appointment at OLG, expressed concern that the Liberals may push forward with online gambling.

“Who is going to trust Dalton McGuinty to run an online casino?” the Tory leader told reporters at Queen’s Park on Monday.

“Listen, this guy has had two consecutive major scandals at the OLGC, they’ve gone through five CEOs, they can’t run the existing casinos let Internet gambling,” he said, referring to suspicious insider lottery wins and other problems.

“They have a voracious appetite for more and more tax dollars. They can’t control the OLGC as it is. This will be a disaster if Dalton McGuinty is running an online casino.”

Stung by offshore websites cashing in on the demand for Internet gaming, governments around the work have been legalizing online betting.

British Columbia, which last month became the first province or state in North America to offer legalized online casino gambling, has estimated it was losing $100 million to illegal websites abroad.

Proceeds from its new website, www.playnow.com, will help fund schools and hospitals. Like Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces are closely watching how online gambling plays in B.C.

While the Liberals are enticed by the lure of additional revenue, the governing party is mindful that many Ontarians, already uneasy with existing casinos, would oppose Internet betting.

Genevieve Breton, Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson’s director of communications, confirmed that following recent concerns surrounding Internet gambling, the Minister of Justice has directed his officials to investigate whether other measures could assist with the enforcement of the Criminal Code against the reserve in Quebec and other illegal online gambling operations.

According to the National Post, those other measures are understood to be moves to restrict banks and credit card companies from allowing online gambling transactions, similar to what the United States passed with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. It’s surprising to hear that banning internet sports wagering and gaming, by forcing the banks to rejects payment transactions as United States has done is being considered in Canada as well. There are many examples in EU and England where internet gaming has been legalized, allowing the government to reap tremendous tax revenues while regulating and policing the industry instead of driving it under ground. Furthermore, American Bankers Association Spoke Up Against the UIGEA because of how hard it is to enforce its guidelines and stay with in the regulations.

Michael Lipton, a Toronto lawyer who specializes in gaming law, said in the National Post article that he believes the government should bring the Kahnawake sites into the system and regulate them. It would provide better protection for customers as well as bringing in tax revenue.

“I think [Ottawa] should embrace this and recognize that people don’t want to be in a position where the government tells them what they can or can’t do in the peace of their own home,” Lipton said in the article.

Understanding that people will find a way to gamble and play games online governments should legalize, monitor and tax internet gaming instead of driving the players and casinos underground where players can will get taken advantage off because they can’t complain to the authorities if they are taking advantage of.