A casino consultant and expert at card cheating techniques, Sal Piacente shows his skill at the Canadian Gaming Summit. Professionally he educates casino employees to detect cheats. (Rob Kruyt, 24 hours)

VANCOUVER -- With Texas Hold 'em poker tournaments taking over TV airwaves, gambling is fast becoming a common pastime activity for Canadians.

A survey released yesterday at the Gaming Summit in Vancouver yesterday revealed 70 per cent of Canadians think gambling is fun and treat it like any other form of entertainment.

Buying a lottery ticket was the most acceptable form of gambling, followed by bingo, office pools, table games at casinos and slot machines.

On a national level, almost 80 per cent of Canadians participate in some form of gambling, and "of the people who do play, the overwhelming majority gamble with a budget, and 75 per cent stick to that budget," said Bill Rutsey, president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association.

But with a whopping 91 per cent of British Columbians involved in sort of gambling and 4.6 per cent of them considered problem gamblers, the poll "only represents part of the picture," said Clarence Chan, a problem-gambling counsellor with Richmond Addiction Services.

"A lot of people can regulate their gambling, that's true. But unlike drugs and alcohol, not many people are aware that it can become an addiction, especially with youth."