A review of publicly available numbers from the Alberta Gaming and Lottery Commission (AGLC) shows an inequity of opportunity between rural and urban charities when it comes to accessing charitable gambling dollars.
On average, urban charities in Calgary and Edmonton received larger slices of pie more frequently. Numbers show urban charities received roughly $40,000 every 23 months, while surrounding community rural charities average $7,400 every 36 months.
Not only do rural regions receive significantly less money per casino event, they also wait 60% longer to participate. The population density difference is a contributing factor to this issue that is a reality faced by all in the rural vs. urban divide, not only in Alberta but on a national and international level as well.
Despite this, part of the inequity also stems from the fact that table games are more populous in urban casinos. At Diplomat, we believe there is a very simple way to address this issue: implement table games at more rural casino facilities.
The greatest potential to have an immediate and positive impact would be Century Mile in Leduc and Century Downs in Airdrie. They both have the necessary drawing power to support table gaming and are in destination locations to draw in further revenues. A full review was completed in 2021 and shows negligible signs of industry cannibalization. There is no reason to continue to delay increasing funding for rural charities.
To fully understand casino charity funding, let’s review casinos operations. There are two main cash flow models in which casinos operate: slot machines and table games. All casinos in Alberta have slot machines, but not all casinos have table games.
A uniquely Albertan system, charities can earn a portion of profits from slot machines and from table games. However, charities can only participate in casino events at casinos that have table games within them, as it is the table game system that drives the charitable gaming model.
The AGLC controls and oversees charitable gaming. First, the charities must be approved by the AGLC to participate in the casino nights, by way of eligibility criteria. As an approved charity, organizations are then placed in line to be given casino event dates. When casino events are confirmed, the organizations and their volunteers are on site at the given casino to “conduct and manage” the casino event to support operations throughout the two days.
All table games revenues and a portion of slot machine revenues on casino event days are re-directed to the charities. The proceeds raised from these casino event nights are then used for charitable purposes within the charity organization.
As a testament to Alberta’s charitable gaming model, 71% of charitable organization earnings in 2019-2020 originated from casino events (A total of ~$228M). 64% of total charitable proceeds stem from casino events. As Alberta’s population continues to expand, let’s work toward continuing to support our charity organizations through modernizing long existing frameworks of revenue support.
Images from: https://aglc.ca/sites/aglc.ca/files/2021-05/Charitable_Gaming_Review-Working_group_package_2021_05.pdf
