Premier Gordon Campbell has become a classic high-stakes gambler.

In the race where the finish line is doubling tourism revenues by 2015, he’s putting all of his money on one horse — the 2010 Winter Games.

Make that our money. The cash-strapped taxpayers — about to take another hit in the pocketbooks from the HST — will foot the bill.

Now, with less than six months before the much-vaunted Olympics — which many residents can’t afford to see, even if we could score tickets — the Liberal government has scrapped Tourism BC, paid off its president and replaced its board with an advisory council.

We are told by Tourism Minister Kevin Krueger that shifting tourism marketing duties, staff and existing programs into his ministry will improve marketing opportunities focused on the Olympics, as well as save hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But was there really that much duplication of services between Tourism BC and the ministry? If an independent Tourism BC is unnecessary, why has it been allowed to exist as a separate Crown corporation for the past 12 years?

If, as we suspect, it had value as a tourism marketer that can’t be supplied by a bureaucratic ministry, now is a curious time to fold it.

Campbell and the Liberals have said they expect the Games to have tourism spinoffs that will last seven years after its closing ceremony. Have they not dismantled the very body that would be best able to capitalize on that?

Yes, Campbell is everyone’s definition of a high-roller. There’s a certain panache to that, a certain glamour. But at what point does a high roller become identified as a chronic gambler in need of rehabilitation?

— Richmond Review