gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

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1950s Gambling is a popular activity, as a 1950 poll by the Canadian Institute of Public Opinion shows that 80% of Canadians gamble. There is fairly widespread violation of gambling laws. Unlicensed instant win tickets (‘pull tickets’) are common (e.g., Lucky 7 jar tickets). Licensed lotteries, raffles and sweepstakes are commonly held for community purposes (e.g., building a new rink) or commercial purposes (sales promotion contests) rather than strictly for charitable and/or religious purposes. Charitable and religious organizations operate regular rather than occasional bingo events. Prizes for lotteries, raffles, and bingo typically far exceed the $50 limit and are rarely first offered for sale (as required). Rigged carnival games are common. Fraudulent lotteries and fixed bingo games are not uncommon. Off-track horse race betting and sports betting are discreetly available at some barber shops, tobacco shops, pool halls, bowling alleys and via the local bookie. The general public sees some arbitrariness in what is legal (horse racing, stock market, gambling at private social clubs) and what is not (lotteries, regular bingo). 18 Polls show Canadians to be increasingly in favour of legal lotteries. There is also lax and inconsistent enforcement of gambling laws. Police forces and provincial Attorneys General advocate the federal government for clarification of existing lottery laws as well as relaxation of prohibitions because of public nonsupport. However, church groups (Protestant & Anglican) and the Canadian Welfare Council advocate for continued prohibition of lotteries and strict enforcement as ‘obtaining something for nothing’ set a bad example; expanded licensing and control would encourage further involvement of criminal elements; it would undermine charitable giving; and because lotteries preyed disproportionately on the poor. 1956 Report on Lotteries 1952 Further refinement of the definition of a slot machine in the Alberta Slot Machine Act to specifically exclude vending machines and juke boxes from the definition (however, ‘pinball machines’ were included (and therefore prohibited) as they did not provide anything back) 1952 Alberta Slot Machine Act A Royal Commission reviewing the Criminal Code found inconsistencies in the gaming laws, but did not recommend any substantive changes, “because of the controversial nature of the matters involved”. Report of Royal Commission on the Revision of Criminal Code Harness racing becomes a regularly scheduled event at some tracks. 1953 Criminal Code amendment (s.179) indicating that any place with a slot machine shall be conclusively presumed to be a common gaming house (and therefore, illegal). Criminal Code amendment (s.180) to indicate that gambling in any vehicle, aircraft, or vessel used as a public conveyance is illegal (previously indicated that gambling on just railway cars or steamboats was illegal). 1953/54 Criminal Code of Canada 1956 A Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons recommended: continued prohibition and effective enforcement of all lotteries; continued exemption for charitable/religious purposes and agricultural organizations; a significant increase in the allowable size of prizes; the existing exemption for providing ‘occasional’ games of chance by charitable or religious organizations to be replaced with a maximum yearly limit on prizes by any one organization; bingo to be treated as a type of lottery; continued prohibition of lottery advertising; and no provincial or federal lottery as the appropriate role of government is to regulate gambling, not provide it. 1956 Report on Lotteries 18 Partly underlying the legality of some forms and the illegality of others was a historical belief that gambling was an acceptable past-time for the rich, but not for the working class. 36
1957 Western Canadian Racing Association (WCRA) is created as the regulatory body for horse racing in Alberta. The WCRA was eventually replaced with the Alberta Racing Corporation in 1996 and then Horse Racing Alberta in 2002. The Edmonton Exhibition took over the management of thoroughbred racing when they volunteered to host the Canadian Derby, which subsequently became a regular event at Northlands Park. Quarter Horse racing becomes a regular event at the Millarville track. Quarter horse racing will soon expand to the other established tracks. 1960s Gambling is increasingly seen as a recreational form of entertainment coincident with society’s more liberal attitudes toward things that have been historically seen as ‘immoral’ (drugs, abortion, birth control, homosexuality, prostitution). This would eventually culminate in an amendment to the Criminal Code in 1969 that permitted government-run lotteries. Casino table games are offered for the first time by agricultural fairs/exhibitions. 1967 Casino table games are offered for the first time by Edmonton’s Northlands Park in the Silver Slipper Saloon during the week-long Klondike Days fair (using the long-standing Criminal Code exemption of agricultural fairs/exhibitions being able to offer lottery schemes). 1968 S.168 of Criminal Code is amended so that the exact amount of money charged is no longer a criterion by which something is a ‘bone fide social club’, but rather that any fees charged are in accordance with the terms of the licence issued by the Attorney General of the province. 1969 Criminal Code amendment (s.190) to permit the operation of lottery schemes by the federal government or provincial governments either alone or in combination with other provincial governments (with continued prohibition of dice games, three card monte, coin tables, and punch boards). Provincial governments, in turn, could issue a gaming licence to charitable or religious organizations, agricultural fairs or exhibitions, or any individual. However: o Charitable/religious organizations are permitted to operate lottery schemes only if proceeds used for charitable or religious purposes, tickets cost no more than 50 cents, and the prize does not exceed $100. o Individuals must conduct the lottery scheme at a public place of amusement and with tickets costing no more than 50 cents, and prizes not exceeding $100. o Agricultural fairs/exhibitions have no restrictions on prize or ticket amounts. 19 1970 Revised Criminal Code The Calgary Stampede provides casino table games at its Frontier Casino during the annual fair. (By this time both the Calgary Stampede and Edmonton Northlands operated up to 3 casinos per year, with revenues split between the agricultural exhibition boards and the gaming operators who were contracted to supply the equipment). 1970s The sense of gambling as a form of recreation is more firmly entrenched. There is fairly widespread participation in both legal and illegal forms with lax enforcement of the laws. The boundaries of legal gambling continue to expand. Lotteries begin to be offered by agricultural fairs/exhibitions, the federal government, and provincial governments. Agricultural fairs in Lethbridge, Red Deer, and Medicine Hat begin providing casino table games. Multi-day casino licences begin to be also granted to charities and agricultural fairs. 19 This important legislation was originally introduced in 1967 by Pierre Trudeau (Minister of Justice) as a part of an omnibus bill to update laws concerning abortion, gun control, divorce, homosexuality, gambling and birth control. The changes in the lottery provisions were partly instigated by Quebec politicians because of the cost of Expo 67. The Bill died when Parliament dissolved for an election and it was reintroduced in January 1969 by John Turner. 37
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: 1924 Criminal Code amendment to s.9
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
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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
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Geographical Distribution As seen i
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Figure 51: Average Per Community FN
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Employment and Income Impacts of Fi
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etter skilled individuals in the co
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Problem Gambling A recent review of
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Table 65: Prevalence of Problem Gam
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$500 chip. One municipal official c
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Both the increased affluence and th
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The Enoch Cree Nation has to pay ba
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The fire department also represents
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chances. One official stated that t
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With the exception of 2006-2007, th
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Post-Script: Barriers to Participat
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(Indian Act, 1985). The latter coul
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SUMMARY Research Approach The prese
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1% (or less) of Alberta GDP since t
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can be said of charitable gambling
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Because revenue from charity casino
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Socioeconomic Inequality Alberta ga
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Despite the relatively low rates of
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supplies/equipment or to reinvest i
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Some of these sentiments tend to su
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communities highlight the casinos a
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ASSESSMENT OF THE OVERALL IMPACTS O
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2. The economic activity increases
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OVERALL SOCIAL IMPACTS Legalized ga
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OVERALL IMPACTS At a provincial lev
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however, that the potential for bri
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REFERENCES Abbott, M.W., Williams,
Page 287 and 288:
Centre for Social and Health Outcom
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Jackson, D. (2010). VLT critic call
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Purdy, C. (2004). Band stakes its f
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Walker, D.M. (2008a). Challenges th
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2008 Survey APPENDICES Appendix A:
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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
Page 313 and 314:
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
Page 335 and 336:
Appendix F: Alberta’s Economic Re
Page 337:
7. A thorough due diligence investi
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