gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

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This finding is also reflected in actual revenues, with lottery ticket revenue, VLT revenue, and charitable gambling revenue tending to be higher in northern Alberta compared to southern Alberta. There is also an important urban-rural difference, with higher VLT revenue per capita in rural areas and higher casino/charitable revenue per capita in urban areas. This is presumably due to the greater availability of VLTs in rural areas and a greater availability of casinos (and slot machines) in urban areas. Further to this point, about 73% of casino revenue appears to derive from people who live within a 20 km driving distance of the casino, with especially disproportionate contributions from people who live within 5 km. Where is the Money Going? Charity groups were the primary direct recipients of gambling revenue until 1987, at which point provincial government revenue started to match charity revenue due to the introduction of provincial instant win tickets and the increased popularity of provincial lottery tickets. This parity continued until 1993. In 1994 provincial government revenue began to rapidly outpace charity revenue due to the introduction of provincially owned VLTs, and then slot machines. The provincial government is now the direct recipient of approximately 85% of all gambling revenue. A significant portion of gambling revenue is immediately redirected because of pre-existing agreements regarding commissions, levies, and revenue disbursement. Thus, the more important question concerns the proportion of gambling revenue received after these agreements. Since 1994 the provincial government’s percentage of total gambling revenue has ranged from 41% to 58% (42% in 2009). Charity/community groups have been the second largest recipient since 1994, with their portion of the total ranging from 22% to 38% (32% in 2009). Private operators (casino owners, lounges hosting VLTs, lottery ticket retailers) have been the third largest recipient, with their portion of the total ranging from 13% to 22% since 1994 (17% in 2009). In the past couple of years First Nations revenue has grown significantly and they now receive approximately 6% of Alberta gambling revenue. The proportion of gambling revenue derived from horse racing has declined significantly since the 1980s when it was as high as 21%, and now only constitutes about 2% of the total. Finally, the federal government has always received the smallest proportion of net Alberta gambling revenue, which has typically been in the range of 1% of the total. In general, the stability observed in the relative proportion of revenue garnered by different sectors is partly related to the fact that they all tend to share in the revenue from the biggest ‘money maker’ (i.e., EGMs), and they have tended to received a fixed percentage of gambling revenue, as opposed to a flat amount. The ‘ultimate’ recipients of almost all Alberta gambling revenue are the citizens of Alberta. This is certainly the case for provincial government revenue where virtually all of this money is spent on government services to benefit Albertans (e.g., health, education, infrastructure). The same 260
can be said of charitable gambling revenue, as since the 1980s a wide range of local organizations that support sports, education, arts, ethno/cultural societies, etc. have come under the umbrella of ‘charity group’. The citizens of Alberta are also recipients of a significant portion of the horse racing revenue disbursements and private operator disbursements, because a sizeable portion of horse racing and private operator profits are spent on local wages and local supplies. Only a very small percentage of gambling revenue actually leaves the province and does not benefit Albertans (i.e., federal government payments, and private casino operator profits that are spent in out-of-province ventures or to out-of-province shareholders). The geographic origin of provincial gambling revenue relative to its geographic distribution is difficult to calculate, but appears to be reasonably equitable. The only geographic region that probably has a case that they receive an unequal ‘return on their money’ is the Fort McMurray Census Division. This region contributes more gambling revenue by virtue of its higher than average per capita expenditures on charity gambling, lotteries, and VLTs, and the fact that it has had a casino since 1994. In return, its Alberta Lottery Fund grant size is the lowest of all Census Divisions, and because it is a rural area it is unlikely to be receiving higher than average government services. Impacts of Legal Gambling on the Provincial Government Gambling revenue constitutes a very small portion of total provincial government revenue. Prior to 1994 it constituted approximately 1%. It has been approximately 5% for the past several years. There is no doubt that Alberta, like other provinces, has come to expect this additional small revenue stream each year to help support its delivery of government services for Albertans, and would miss it if it were gone. However, the reality is that if gambling revenue ended it would only require the provincial government to effect a relatively small decrease in annual expenditures and/or a relatively small increase in other sources of revenue to compensate (i.e., an increase in personal taxes, corporate taxes, or royalty payments on petroleum products). (Although there is no doubt there would be reticence to do this because of the potential political repercussions). The Alberta government’s proportion of revenue derived from gambling has tended to be higher than other provinces. However, this is largely due to the higher expenditures of Alberta gamblers. This higher expenditure, in turn, appears to be due to the relatively high availability of casinos and EGMs in Alberta plus the higher than average after-tax income of Albertans. A conflict of interest exists when the regulator (i.e., government) and the operator are part of the same organization and the regulator is the primary financial beneficiary of gambling (as is the case in Alberta). This conflict of interest potentially compromises the regulator’s ability to implement truly effective problem gambling prevention policies and to effectively regulate the 261
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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
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Table 54: Correlation between Crime
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Infrastructure Value The private se
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With respect to this first possibil
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increase in the comparison periods;
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Census Division Table 57: Business
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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 and 258: SUMMARY Research Approach The prese
Page 259: 1% (or less) of Alberta GDP since t
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
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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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