gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

data shows that government gambling revenue in 2009 is 15.9 times higher than it was in 1989,
compared to 9.5 times higher for property taxes, 4.8 for income taxes, 3.1 for investment
income 61 , 2.6 for alcohol and tobacco, and 2.4 for other revenue). However, the annual
increases in gambling revenue only outpaced other sources of revenue up to about 1999. After
1999 the magnitude increase in gambling revenue (2.1) is actually slightly less than the
magnitude increase in all sources of government revenue (2.3).
Figure 29: Source of Annual Alberta Provincial Government Revenue from 1989 to 2009.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 385-0002 - Federal, provincial and territorial general government revenue and
expenditures, for fiscal year ending March 31. CANSIM (database).
As seen in Table 29, the Alberta government’s proportion of revenue derived from gambling
has tended to be higher than other provinces. Nonetheless, with gambling revenue only
constituting approximately 5% of overall provincial revenue, it is too strong a claim (as is
sometimes made by critics of government-run gambling) that provinces such as Alberta are
61 In Alberta ‘investment income’ primarily represents royalties from non-renewable resources (natural gas, oil,
coal).
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
Personal & Corporate Income Tax Property Tax
Alcohol Profit & Tobacco Taxes Gambling Revenue
1999
2000
Other Income Resource & Investment Revenue
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
132