St. Albert charities are facing a fundraising disadvantage through the charitable gaming model in Alberta, according to recent data released this month.
In December, the Camrose Resort Casino released new data showing St. Albert casino fundraising nights netted nearly the lowest amount of revenue per gaming night in the province. The casino is calling for changes to the charitable gaming model in the province, as rural non-profits are facing disadvantages compared to their urban counterparts.
St. Albert casino nights earn only $8,100 for each non-profit participating, second lowest in Alberta only to Camrose, where charities earn only $6,100.
Neighbouring Edmonton charities earn a whopping $39,000, with Calgary casino nights bringing in even more cash with $42,000 earned.
Like many organizations throughout the province, St. Albert charities and non-profits bring in a considerable amount of their budget from casino nights.
But securing a coveted spot on the Century calendar is a painstaking process; organizing an event at the city’s sole licensed gambling destination is a multi-year endeavour, and has been for quite some time.
St. Albert has some of the lowest revenues in the province, but also has one of the highest wait times for non-profits to participate in casino nights.
Local non-profits have to wait an average of 31 months, with Camrose charities waiting 41 months. In Edmonton the wait time is only 23 months and in Fort McMurray wait times are only 17 months.
Geographically designed
Currently, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission’s (AGLC) regulations are structured so that access to gambling venues is geographically determined, meaning that groups headquartered in St. Albert are prevented from putting on fundraisers at casinos in Edmonton.
In Alberta, the extent to which charities and non-profits are able to draw on casinos for fundraising is largely a consequence of which side of a municipal border they happen to be based.
As one of the communities most disadvantaged by the AGLC’s current zoning paradigm, St. Albert is a city whose charities and non-profits face especially significant barriers in meeting their operational budgetary requirements.
Relying on casino nights for operational dollars is a losing strategy, said Doug Campbell, president of the St. Albert Community Foundation.
“No non-profit or charity should see any gaming funds as a predictable source of revenue,” Campbell said.
“Funds from gaming sources are generally used to fund programs and service, not operations. Even government grant programs funded by gaming are unreliable,” Campbell said.
The president said access to gaming funds such as a casino on a regular basis does allow groups to enhance basic programs and services.
Shut out from the cash-flush Edmonton casino market, the solution to charitable fundraising in St. Albert needs to be multi-faceted, Campbell said.
“Bingos used to be a good fundraiser, but VLTs have killed bingo as a significant fundraising source” added Campbell.
“Today, you need to be innovative in creating a fundraiser. Raffles are still popular, as are online raffles and 50/50s. And then, if you look at sports like hockey, they basically have high participation fees in order to cover operational costs.”
And yet, even organizations that are able to draw from a broad range of sources to meet their financial needs often resort to directly soliciting private and corporate donations.
“It is very competitive in St. Albert. Local businesses are hit on for support, and St. Albert groups are in competition for corporate donors with large Edmonton charities, which view St. Albert as a cash cow,” said Campbell.
Call for changes
Tensions stemming from the disparity in access between big city and rural/suburban jurisdictions have been aggravated in recent weeks after the AGLC’s Board rejected a proposal that would allow the Camrose Resort Casino to relocate to South Edmonton.
“AGLC’s unfair treatment of rural charities has been going on for decades, shortchanging rural communities hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Jason Pechet, president of Capital City Casino, which owns the Camrose Resort Casino.
The casino’s relocation proposal was seen by proponents as an effort to ensure revenues would flow to rural charities outside of Edmonton and Calgary in larger volumes.
“Given the pooling mechanism used by AGLC for the Camrose and St. Albert AGLC-defined regions, the proposed relocation would have benefited hundreds of thousands of rural Albertans living in communities spanning from the B.C. border to the Saskatchewan border,” read the press release from the Camrose Resort Casino.
Unlike laws governing liquor sales and distribution — which are applied uniformly throughout the province — the framework for generating proceeds through gaming divides Alberta into a patchwork of more and less fortunate subregions, a reality that some in the philanthropic space argue would be more contentious were it more well-known.
“Most charities that have casino licenses assume that everyone is treated the same regardless of where they are located. Rural-based organizations are astounded and angry when they see how disproportionate the access to casino revenue is between Edmonton, Calgary, and everyone else,” said Morris Henderson, treasurer of the Rotary Club of Camrose, in the same release.
“How can this unfair distribution continue to be supported by our government? Why are rural Albertans forced to earn less than those who live in the city?”
