gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Theoretical Approach Cost-benefit analysis has been the traditional theoretical approach used to assess to assessing the socioeconomic impacts of gambling. However, it has practical problems due to the fact that estimating the monetary costs of several social impacts (e.g., suicides, divorces) is very difficult and fairly unreliable. It has theoretical problems in that it is inappropriate to apply an arbitrary monetary amount to something that is clearly nonmonetary in its value or consequences to the participant. Furthermore, doing so reinforces the erroneous notion that money is the appropriate metric upon which socioeconomic impacts should be evaluated. Dissatisfaction with reliance on financial indices has led to the development of alternative measures to assess progress/impacts in a more comprehensive fashion (e.g., Quality of Life Index, Full Cost Accounting, Genuine Progress Indicator). Unfortunately, while these approaches are more theoretically satisfying, they have practical problems of their own. First, although they all have similar goals, their specifics are markedly different from each other, illustrating the fact that determining which indicators contribute to societal well-being is a very value-laden task not well agreed upon. Second, these approaches have the same problem as cost-benefit analysis in that they aspire to combine impacts into a single index. This is problematic because it either arbitrarily requires all impacts to be equivalent in value and/or requires a subjective judgement about the relative value/weight of one impact against the others. Unfortunately, the reality is that there is no reliable way of combining social impacts with monetary impacts to produce a single summative measure of the overall impacts. Rather, the only theoretically neutral and scientifically rigorous approach is to a) create a comprehensive profile of the social impacts and the economic impacts, and to b) evaluate these profiles against basic principles of economic gain/loss and basic principles of societal value/benefit. This is the theoretical approach used in the present study. How Much Money is Involved? Gambling revenue in Alberta has increased dramatically in the past 35 years, from approximately $300 million a year in the late 1970s/early 1980s (in current dollars) to over $2.5 billion a year since 2006. Much of this increase has occurred since the 1990s. However, the percentage increase in revenue from year to year has flattened somewhat since about 2002, with 2009 being particularly notable, as this is the first year where revenue was actually lower than the previous year. This downward trend continued in 2010. Similarly, per adult expenditures increased from about $200 per adult in the 1970s (in current dollars) to a peak of $1001 in 2008 and a decline in the subsequent 2 years. However, despite these increases, gambling represents a relatively small activity both in global economic terms and at the individual level. Total gambling revenue has constituted only about 258
1% (or less) of Alberta GDP since the mid 1990s. Similarly, the percentage of after tax income spent on gambling by Albertans has been in the range of 2.5% to 3.0% in this same time period, and has not really changed since the mid 1990s. Where is the Money Coming From? The game origin of gambling revenue has changed dramatically over time. The largest component of Alberta gambling revenue from 1970 to 1984 was horse race betting, changing to ticket lotteries from 1985 to 1993, changing to VLTs from 1994 to 2004, and changing to slot machines from 2005 to the present time. Horse racing revenue per adult Albertan peaked in 1979, whereas it peaked for pull-tickets in 1987, bingo in 1992, ticket lotteries in 1995, VLTs in 1998, raffles in 2004, and table games and slot machines in 2009. Much of the growth in EGM revenue over the years is due to the increasing number of machines, since participation rates have been stable, as has the revenue per machine ratio (averaging $138,000 per VLT and $110,000 per slot machine in the past 10 years (adjusted for inflation)). In terms of the demographic origin of gambling revenue, although more than 70% of the Alberta adult population have participated in gambling on an annual basis for the past 20 years, the frequency and extensiveness of gambling (and therefore, gambling expenditure) is not evenly distributed in the population. Rather, there are large numbers of ‘light gamblers’ who occasionally engage in just one or two formats, most typically, lottery tickets, raffles, instant win tickets, and social gambling. At the other end, there are a small number of ‘heavily involved’ gamblers who more frequently engage in many different formats. A small percentage of people currently account for the bulk of reported Alberta gambling expenditure. Roughly 6% account for 75%, 10% account for 81%, and 20% account for 89%. An analysis of the top 6% of ‘big spenders’ shows these individuals to be more likely living in northern Alberta and to have higher incomes. To a lesser extent, they are also more likely to be a non-immigrant, of Aboriginal ancestry, older than 35, male, and being married or living common law. However, the feature that most clearly distinguishes them concerns their prevalence of problem gambling, where their rate of 40.6% is many times higher than the 2 or 3% in the general population. In 2008/2009 it is estimated that problem gamblers in Alberta accounted for 50% of all reported gambling expenditure, with this ratio being even higher for VLTs, slot machines, and casino table games. In terms of the geographic origin of gambling revenue, almost all Alberta gambling revenue comes from Albertans. Although 5% of visitors to Alberta go to a casino while they are here, very few of these people have come here to gamble and most of their travel-related expenditures would still have occurred even without gambling being available. Within Alberta, there are higher per capita reported gambling expenditures in northern Alberta compared to southern Alberta, with the major cities having intermediate expenditure levels. 259
Page 1 and 2:
Plant fertilizer 2011 GAMBLING IN A
Page 3 and 4:
Citation Williams, R.J., Belanger,
Page 5 and 6:
AMOUNTS, ORIGINS, AND RECIPIENTS OF
Page 7 and 8:
ABSTRACT At a provincial level, the
Page 9 and 10:
Alberta is estimated to have 3,755,
Page 11 and 12:
than empirical in nature. Thus, the
Page 13 and 14:
While the above described approach
Page 15 and 16:
census. A supplemental Online Gener
Page 17 and 18:
THEORETICAL APPROACH PROBLEMS WITH
Page 19 and 20:
Aside from these practical issues,
Page 21 and 22:
SOUND PRINCIPLES FOR CONDUCTING SOC
Page 23 and 24:
Again, other ways of organizing and
Page 25 and 26:
4. The transfer of wealth and chang
Page 27 and 28:
Compare Changes to those Observed i
Page 29 and 30:
to document prior gambling opportun
Page 31 and 32:
Mid 1700s to late 1800s 1869 - 1892
Page 33 and 34:
Cheating at gambling (Part XXVIII F
Page 35 and 36:
1924 Criminal Code amendment to s.9
Page 37 and 38:
1957 Western Canadian Racing Associ
Page 39 and 40:
1980s There is a major expansion of
Page 41 and 42:
1989 In June the Criminal Code of C
Page 43 and 44:
1997 AGLC allows the number of slot
Page 45 and 46:
2003 Federal agriculture minister m
Page 47 and 48:
HISTORY OF EACH TYPE OF GAMBLING Th
Page 49 and 50:
Number of Live Race Days per Year I
Page 51 and 52:
Table 1: Total Raffle Licences per
Page 53 and 54:
Table 2: Total Pull-Ticket Licences
Page 55 and 56:
Table 3: Total Bingo Licences per Y
Page 57 and 58:
Table 5: Total Bingo Events per Yea
Page 59 and 60:
Table 6: Total Lottery Ticket Retai
Page 61 and 62:
Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) In A
Page 63 and 64:
Table 8: Total Video Lottery Locati
Page 65 and 66:
1996 Slot machines and electronic h
Page 67 and 68:
The main indices that speak to chan
Page 69 and 70:
Table 12: Total Charitable Casino L
Page 71 and 72:
REGULATORY AND ORGANIZATIONAL HISTO
Page 73 and 74:
HISTORY OF FIRST NATIONS COMMERCIAL
Page 75 and 76:
CURRENT REGULATION, AVAILABILITY, A
Page 77 and 78:
aggregate value of all tickets sold
Page 79 and 80:
ALBERTA GOVERNMENT GAMBLING The Cri
Page 81 and 82:
CASINOS Traditional Casinos Casinos
Page 83 and 84:
percentage of table game revenue re
Page 85 and 86:
Figure 15. Location of Current and
Page 87 and 88:
HORSE RACING Horse racing is the on
Page 89 and 90:
Bingo Lotteries and Instant Win (Sc
Page 91 and 92:
AMOUNTS, ORIGINS, AND RECIPIENTS OF
Page 93 and 94:
Another way of looking at the overa
Page 95 and 96:
increase has occurred since the ear
Page 97 and 98:
WHERE IS THE MONEY COMING FROM? As
Page 99 and 100:
Figure 20: Proportion of Alberta Ne
Page 101 and 102:
Origin of Net Gambling Revenue by D
Page 103 and 104:
Table 18: Past Year Gambling Partic
Page 105 and 106:
EGM Players Table 20 shows reasonab
Page 107 and 108:
Table 21: Percentage of Each Type o
Page 109 and 110:
winsorized then 75% of reported exp
Page 111 and 112:
Table 22a: Demographic Profile of t
Page 113 and 114:
patronage and revenue. Attendance f
Page 115 and 116:
However, less important than the ac
Page 117 and 118:
Because of the paramount importance
Page 119 and 120:
Actual Revenue Another source of da
Page 121 and 122:
Figure 25: Average Ticket Lottery R
Page 123 and 124:
WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING? The final
Page 125 and 126:
industry. The proportion of gamblin
Page 127 and 128:
Table 27: Grants Awarded by Alberta
Page 129 and 130:
since 1999; 47% of all revenue in 2
Page 131 and 132:
IMPACTS OF LEGAL GAMBLING IMPACTS O
Page 133 and 134:
‘addicted to gambling revenue’.
Page 135 and 136:
Several factors influence the perce
Page 137 and 138:
There are also some important lesso
Page 139 and 140:
Figure 30: Proportion of Total Net
Page 141 and 142:
Figure 31: Number of Charities per
Page 143 and 144:
IMPACTS ON SOCIETY The citizens of
Page 145 and 146:
Number of Alberta Gambling Employee
Page 147 and 148:
Table 34: North American Industry C
Page 149 and 150:
Table 35: Importance of Gambling as
Page 151 and 152:
percentage of the population (i.e.,
Page 153 and 154:
Table 37: Household Past Year Repor
Page 155 and 156:
40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% F
Page 157 and 158:
Although Albertans are satisfied wi
Page 159 and 160:
A final attitude question asked in
Page 161 and 162:
Figure 41: What sort of overall imp
Page 163 and 164:
Prevalence Problem Gambling and Rel
Page 165 and 166:
Williams & Volberg (2010) also calc
Page 167 and 168:
Features of Problem Gamblers The ty
Page 169 and 170:
significant change in reported casi
Page 171 and 172:
Table 43: Gambling and Problem Gamb
Page 173 and 174:
their shared variance is taken into
Page 175 and 176:
Treatment Numbers and Costs Treatme
Page 177 and 178:
The only readily available figures
Page 179 and 180:
OSB reports there were a total of 7
Page 181 and 182:
Table 49: Consumer Insolvency Rates
Page 183 and 184:
Another approach is to establish th
Page 185 and 186:
that gambling had resulted in separ
Page 187 and 188:
Applying these prevalence rates to
Page 189 and 190:
gambling-related illegal acts and 8
Page 191 and 192:
It is important to remember that th
Page 193 and 194:
Table 52: Criminal Charges Laid by
Page 195 and 196:
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 and 248: The fire department also represents
Page 249 and 250: chances. One official stated that t
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: SUMMARY Research Approach The prese
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
Page 299 and 300: are interested in the opinions of b
Page 301 and 302: PAST YEAR GAMBLING BEHAVIOUR GY1a.
Page 303 and 304: GY6a. In the past 12 months, how of
Page 305 and 306: Cash Casino - Red Deer (15) Jackpot
Page 307 and 308: GY10a. In the past 12 months, how o
Page 309 and 310:
GY14a. In the past 12 months, what
Page 311 and 312:
GP4. CPGI4/PPGM8b. In the past 12 m
Page 313 and 314:
GP11b. In the past 12 months has ga
Page 315 and 316:
GP16a. PPGM8c. In the past 12 month
Page 317 and 318:
The following question only asked o
Page 319 and 320:
TRIANGULATION (ONLINE PANEL ONLY) T
Page 321 and 322:
Exact amount________________ (17) U
Page 323 and 324:
2009 Survey The 2009 survey was als
Page 325 and 326:
C11. Do you have pleasant memories
Page 327 and 328:
SURVEY YEAR 1992 1993 1995 1996 199
Page 329 and 330:
2008 2008 2009 2009 Williams, Belan
Page 331 and 332:
1 Medicine Hat 2 Lethbridge 3 Fort
Page 333 and 334:
8. In the past 12 months, have you
Page 335 and 336:
Appendix F: Alberta’s Economic Re
Page 337:
7. A thorough due diligence investi
show all

gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?