gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

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availability and increased utilization, which leads to increased rates of problems in a minority. Most of these problems occur when the product is first introduced, and indeed, past year problem gambling rates appear to be highest in the 1990s coincident with the major period of gambling expansion. The current relationship between legal availability of gambling and increased prevalence of problem gambling is fairly weak (i.e., rates have stabilized and/or decreased despite increased availability). However, the pervasive availability of gambling is a contributing factor to the existing rates and to exacerbation of harms within problem gamblers. Also, problem gambling is only partly responsible for some of the more serious sequelae (i.e., suicide, divorce, incarceration, domestic violence). Problem gamblers have high rates of mental health and substance abuse comorbidities which are important contributing factors to these events. In addition to criminogenic problem gambling, there is a small amount of additional crime created by the fact that gambling venues provide additional opportunities for crime. Gambling is also somewhat regressive, with lower income people contributing a greater portion of their incomes, on average, compared to higher income people. However, there is some tendency for higher income groups to spend more per person on average compared to low income groups. Consequently, higher income groups contribute proportionally more to overall Alberta gambling revenue compared to lower income groups. A much more serious concern is that 75% of reported gambling expenditure comes from roughly 6% of the population. The most distinguishing feature of these individuals is the fact that 40.6% of them are problem gamblers. Overall, problem gamblers in 2008/2009 in Alberta appear to account for roughly 50% of all reported expenditure, a percentage that is even higher than previous Canadian estimates of between 23% – 36% (Williams & Wood, 2004; 2007). It is ethically problematic for governments and charity organizations to be drawing such a significant percentage of their revenue from a vulnerable segment of the population. 280
OVERALL IMPACTS At a provincial level, there would appear to be minor economic benefits to gambling in Alberta that are offset by minor economic costs. The main economic benefits concern the fact that gambling appears to create additional economic activity without any obvious negative impacts on other business, and gambling is associated with a very small increase in the value of infrastructure. At a community level, however, there are significant and unambiguous economic benefits to First Nation communities that host casinos because of their ability to retain a large part of the revenue. Although this increased revenue is mostly derived from non- First Nations communities (primarily Edmonton and Calgary), it represents a relatively small cost to these large urban economies. The economic costs of gambling in Alberta concern the fact that the creation of domestic gambling opportunities has more likely increased monetary outflow to out-of-province jurisdictions rather than retained it. However, the amount of outflow is small relative to overall Alberta GDP. It is also worth noting that the model used in Alberta whereby the provincial government and community groups are the primary beneficiaries of gambling revenue is a system that best ensures that gambling revenue stays in the province and the economic benefits accrue to Albertans. From a social/nonmonetary perspective, it can be said there are important social benefits of gambling that are offset by some serious negative consequences. The main social benefit of legal gambling is the enhanced community services that Albertans receive from charity/community groups and maintained and/or enhanced public services from the provincial government. Other important social benefits are the fact that it has significantly decreased illegal gambling, and it has provided an additional leisure option that is fairly well patronized. Minor employment benefits likely also exist. Gambling’s negative social impacts concern the fact that it is slightly regressive, and it creates a small amount of additional crime. However, the main negative impact is problem gambling, which directly or indirectly affects 8% to 10% of the population and which involves particularly serious consequences for a small minority of these people (bankruptcy, divorce, unemployment, crime, suicide). For some of these things (bankruptcy, suicide) gambling appears to be an important contributor to their overall prevalence within Alberta. However, the legal availability of gambling is only partly responsible for the prevalence of problem gambling, and problem gambling is only partly responsible for the prevalence of these serious consequences. A more directly attributable and ethically problematic aspect of legal gambling is the fact that the large majority of government and charity gambling revenue is derived from a very small percentage of the population that includes a disproportionate percentage of problem gamblers. 281
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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
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thinking in an interpretative act;
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The Edmonton mayor indicated he bel
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Several community representatives a
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daytime usage ... if it’s shoppin
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Increased crime was a related issue
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IMPACT ON FIRST NATIONS The impact
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Table 59: Use of First Nations Char
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Table 60: Distributions to Differen
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Table 60 illustrates that the large
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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 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: OVERALL SOCIAL IMPACTS Legalized ga
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
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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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