gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

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eserves (Fekete, 2005). A second phase was planned that included building a second hotel, additional convention space, expanded food and beverage outlets and a retail outlet mall. The casino aimed to house 15 tables and 300 slot machines, with room to expand to 600. The proposal also included a 92room hotel, a 320-seat restaurant, lounge, and entertainment complex, a 150-person conference centre, and a water park. The project design anticipated expanding to fill the entire 240-acre site with more hotel rooms, casino, and retail space. In a referendum all three bands voted 73% in favour of the casino project. Actual Impacts Similar to the Enoch Cree and the Alexis Nakota, the Stoney Nakoda spent the majority of their first year’s gambling revenue on repaying their non-gaming related construction debts. Almost all of the 2008-2009 FNDF disbursement, totalling $2,577,432.03, went to repaying non-gaming debt as did the 2009-2010 allotment of $2,308,589.01. A large portion ($2 million) was spent on creating an economic development plan of Horseshoe Lands, a proposed residential development. This was followed by more than $1.1 million spending on band housing construction, major renovations to housing and CMHC mortgage payments; and a newly developed band housing program. The Stoney is in perhaps the most dubious position of the 5 host casinos. In debt after financing the casino-resort for $27 million, the casino is attracting fewer customers than anticipated. Originally expected to employ 200, the staff complement on opening day was approximately 100, of which 48 were First Nations. Today the casino-resort employs 35 for a payroll of just over $1.1 million, far less than original projections. The issue is significant. A considerable portion of Stoney capital is tied up in the casino, making it difficult to diversify the community’s portfolio. New projects have been turned down in recent years due to lack of available funding. Private land holdings were put up for collateral, meaning that this project must work or else the community could be in dire straits. The recent economic slump has also hit the community, and the community’s oil and gas revenues have plummeted sharply. An official indicated cryptically when asked about the casino’s benefits that community patrons are spending more money on average than non-First Nations customers. This suggests that the casino is not acting as the conduit drawing anticipated extra community cash into the First Nations. The augmented police presence has led to an improved First Nation-RCMP relationship that community member’s welcome. Due to limited call volume at the casino, the RCMP spends more time servicing the community located more than 30 kilometres away. The community was able to recently hire two community mental health workers to combat domestic violence issues. RCMP officials indicate that drinking and driving has subsided since the casino opening due to the amplified police presence on the main roadways, leading people to take fewer 248
chances. One official stated that the casino has led neighbouring communities and their business owners to view the Stoney more positively, as progressive business owners. The Stoney First Nation was embroiled in controversy prior to breaking ground on its new casino. In October 2005, months of agitation culminated in a seven-hour standoff when Eliza Holloway, Alice Twoyoungmen, and Winnie Francis, known as the three sisters, and about twodozen supporters blocked construction vehicles from accessing the casino construction site. Protesting the site selection since July, the protestors denied surveyor and construction worker access (Ovsey, 2005). The protest reflected elder concerns with what they portrayed as band council deception: one claimed that he and others were falsely led to believe they were signing off on oil and gas royalties, when in fact they were voting in favour of the project. Additional informants came forward claiming that their concerns were ignored, and that others were bribed for their support. As predicted, the once dry community’s band council passed a bylaw allowing the casino’s sale of alcohol, thus permitting reserve resident more convenient access to alcohol (that had previously been obtained in nearby Canmore or the more distant Calgary). Casino staff has identified drug peddlers from Calgary, and residential gambling has reportedly become an issue. The RCMP reported that early on some employees were arrested and charged with theft. The casino promised economic rejuvenation in the wake of sagging oil and gas prices, something it has yet to deliver. It is a physical reminder of what is at stake for the community. The Stoney First Nation to date has invested more than $30 million for casino and resort construction and put up private land holdings as collateral. As one participant clearly stated, “from a financial point of view, what you’ve done is you’ve put the nation in a position that has no choice but to make this thing profitable.” Or, more specifically, closing the gap between investment and actualization has been difficult. Anticipated Impacts Alexis: Eagle River Casino The patronage for the Eagle River Casino was anticipated to come from the roughly 16,000 cars that pass by the casino on a daily basis travelling on Highway 43. Slated to be a $63.5 million destination resort with a 150-room hotel run by Marriot, a $54 million casino was constructed to help offset the 70-95% unemployment rate. After Marriott backed out Paragon Gaming financed construction after purchasing the proposal, to which the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation owes $21.4 million. Initially, revenues were to be used for social programs to counter crack cocaine and methamphetamine use and gang activity, to build homes (the First Nation had an estimated 150-houses shortfall) and advance commercial development in Whitecourt (Ohler, 2006). 249
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Plant fertilizer 2011 GAMBLING IN A
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Citation Williams, R.J., Belanger,
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AMOUNTS, ORIGINS, AND RECIPIENTS OF
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ABSTRACT At a provincial level, the
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Alberta is estimated to have 3,755,
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than empirical in nature. Thus, the
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While the above described approach
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census. A supplemental Online Gener
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THEORETICAL APPROACH PROBLEMS WITH
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Aside from these practical issues,
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SOUND PRINCIPLES FOR CONDUCTING SOC
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Again, other ways of organizing and
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4. The transfer of wealth and chang
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Compare Changes to those Observed i
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to document prior gambling opportun
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Mid 1700s to late 1800s 1869 - 1892
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Cheating at gambling (Part XXVIII F
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1924 Criminal Code amendment to s.9
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1957 Western Canadian Racing Associ
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1980s There is a major expansion of
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1989 In June the Criminal Code of C
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1997 AGLC allows the number of slot
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2003 Federal agriculture minister m
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HISTORY OF EACH TYPE OF GAMBLING Th
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Number of Live Race Days per Year I
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Table 1: Total Raffle Licences per
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Table 2: Total Pull-Ticket Licences
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Table 3: Total Bingo Licences per Y
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Table 5: Total Bingo Events per Yea
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Table 6: Total Lottery Ticket Retai
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Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) In A
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Table 8: Total Video Lottery Locati
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1996 Slot machines and electronic h
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The main indices that speak to chan
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Table 12: Total Charitable Casino L
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REGULATORY AND ORGANIZATIONAL HISTO
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HISTORY OF FIRST NATIONS COMMERCIAL
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CURRENT REGULATION, AVAILABILITY, A
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aggregate value of all tickets sold
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ALBERTA GOVERNMENT GAMBLING The Cri
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CASINOS Traditional Casinos Casinos
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percentage of table game revenue re
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Figure 15. Location of Current and
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HORSE RACING Horse racing is the on
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Bingo Lotteries and Instant Win (Sc
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AMOUNTS, ORIGINS, AND RECIPIENTS OF
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Another way of looking at the overa
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increase has occurred since the ear
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WHERE IS THE MONEY COMING FROM? As
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Figure 20: Proportion of Alberta Ne
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Origin of Net Gambling Revenue by D
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Table 18: Past Year Gambling Partic
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EGM Players Table 20 shows reasonab
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Table 21: Percentage of Each Type o
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winsorized then 75% of reported exp
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Table 22a: Demographic Profile of t
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patronage and revenue. Attendance f
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However, less important than the ac
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Because of the paramount importance
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Actual Revenue Another source of da
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Figure 25: Average Ticket Lottery R
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WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING? The final
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industry. The proportion of gamblin
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Table 27: Grants Awarded by Alberta
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since 1999; 47% of all revenue in 2
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IMPACTS OF LEGAL GAMBLING IMPACTS O
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‘addicted to gambling revenue’.
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Several factors influence the perce
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There are also some important lesso
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Figure 30: Proportion of Total Net
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Figure 31: Number of Charities per
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IMPACTS ON SOCIETY The citizens of
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Number of Alberta Gambling Employee
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Table 34: North American Industry C
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Table 35: Importance of Gambling as
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percentage of the population (i.e.,
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Table 37: Household Past Year Repor
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40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% F
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Although Albertans are satisfied wi
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A final attitude question asked in
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Figure 41: What sort of overall imp
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Prevalence Problem Gambling and Rel
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Williams & Volberg (2010) also calc
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Features of Problem Gamblers The ty
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significant change in reported casi
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Table 43: Gambling and Problem Gamb
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their shared variance is taken into
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Treatment Numbers and Costs Treatme
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The only readily available figures
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OSB reports there were a total of 7
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Table 49: Consumer Insolvency Rates
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Another approach is to establish th
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that gambling had resulted in separ
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Applying these prevalence rates to
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gambling-related illegal acts and 8
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It is important to remember that th
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Table 52: Criminal Charges Laid by
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early 1990s, that was followed by a
Page 197 and 198: Table 54: Correlation between Crime
Page 199 and 200: Infrastructure Value The private se
Page 201 and 202: With respect to this first possibil
Page 203 and 204: increase in the comparison periods;
Page 205 and 206: Census Division Table 57: Business
Page 207 and 208: versus 2.2%). Commercial insolvency
Page 209 and 210: thinking in an interpretative act;
Page 211 and 212: The Edmonton mayor indicated he bel
Page 213 and 214: Several community representatives a
Page 215 and 216: daytime usage ... if it’s shoppin
Page 217 and 218: Increased crime was a related issue
Page 219 and 220: IMPACT ON FIRST NATIONS The impact
Page 221 and 222: Table 59: Use of First Nations Char
Page 223 and 224: Table 60: Distributions to Differen
Page 225 and 226: Table 60 illustrates that the large
Page 227 and 228: McKay, Heart Lake and the Athabasca
Page 229 and 230: Geographical Distribution As seen i
Page 231 and 232: Figure 51: Average Per Community FN
Page 233 and 234: Employment and Income Impacts of Fi
Page 235 and 236: etter skilled individuals in the co
Page 237 and 238: Problem Gambling A recent review of
Page 239 and 240: Table 65: Prevalence of Problem Gam
Page 241 and 242: $500 chip. One municipal official c
Page 243 and 244: Both the increased affluence and th
Page 245 and 246: The Enoch Cree Nation has to pay ba
Page 247: The fire department also represents
Page 251 and 252: With the exception of 2006-2007, th
Page 253 and 254: Post-Script: Barriers to Participat
Page 255 and 256: (Indian Act, 1985). The latter coul
Page 257 and 258: SUMMARY Research Approach The prese
Page 259 and 260: 1% (or less) of Alberta GDP since t
Page 261 and 262: can be said of charitable gambling
Page 263 and 264: Because revenue from charity casino
Page 265 and 266: Socioeconomic Inequality Alberta ga
Page 267 and 268: Despite the relatively low rates of
Page 269 and 270: supplies/equipment or to reinvest i
Page 271 and 272: Some of these sentiments tend to su
Page 273 and 274: communities highlight the casinos a
Page 275 and 276: ASSESSMENT OF THE OVERALL IMPACTS O
Page 277 and 278: 2. The economic activity increases
Page 279 and 280: OVERALL SOCIAL IMPACTS Legalized ga
Page 281 and 282: OVERALL IMPACTS At a provincial lev
Page 283 and 284: however, that the potential for bri
Page 285 and 286: REFERENCES Abbott, M.W., Williams,
Page 287 and 288: Centre for Social and Health Outcom
Page 289 and 290: Jackson, D. (2010). VLT critic call
Page 291 and 292: Purdy, C. (2004). Band stakes its f
Page 293 and 294: Walker, D.M. (2008a). Challenges th
Page 295 and 296: 2008 Survey APPENDICES Appendix A:
Page 297 and 298: General Population Targeted INELIGI
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are interested in the opinions of b
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PAST YEAR GAMBLING BEHAVIOUR GY1a.
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GY6a. In the past 12 months, how of
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Cash Casino - Red Deer (15) Jackpot
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GY10a. In the past 12 months, how o
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GY14a. In the past 12 months, what
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GP4. CPGI4/PPGM8b. In the past 12 m
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GP11b. In the past 12 months has ga
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GP16a. PPGM8c. In the past 12 month
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The following question only asked o
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TRIANGULATION (ONLINE PANEL ONLY) T
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Exact amount________________ (17) U
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2009 Survey The 2009 survey was als
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C11. Do you have pleasant memories
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SURVEY YEAR 1992 1993 1995 1996 199
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2008 2008 2009 2009 Williams, Belan
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1 Medicine Hat 2 Lethbridge 3 Fort
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8. In the past 12 months, have you
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Appendix F: Alberta’s Economic Re
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7. A thorough due diligence investi
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