The Saskatchewan government is "very interested" in the idea of online gambling, the minister responsible for gaming says.

Ken Cheveldayoff was responding Tuesday to the Ontario government's announcement that it will have an online gaming program set up by early 2012.

British Columbia launched its own site recently, and Quebec is expected to do the same.

Cheveldayoff, the minister responsible for the Saskatchewan Gaming Corp., said Saskatchewan, too, is "cautiously looking at" doing the same thing.

The upside would be collecting money that would otherwise go to unregulated online gambling sites, he said.

However, he also admitted there would be a downside if the province — which already runs two casinos and owns thousands of video lottery terminals — moves onto the internet.

"The concern is, it's harder to police, it's harder to monitor, you don't know who's on the other end," he said. "We want to make sure it's those that are above 18 years old and those that are responsible gamers that are taking advantage of it."

However, there's no timeline for the government's decision, he said.