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Public support for gambling linked to grants: NDP critic

By Andrew MacLeod March 9, 2010 03:52 pm 12 comments

Cutting gaming grants may reduce public support for gambling, said New Democratic Party housing and social development critic Shane Simpson.

“The gaming money is a unique pot of money,” said Simpson. “That money came about in the 1990s when we started to ramp up gaming in this province, and people in the province weren't so sure that they liked that.”

But people came to support increased gambling because of the amount of money it put back into their communities through non-profit agencies and other organizations, he said. “That was the social contract,” he said. “This government doesn't respect or believe that social contract has value. They've ripped it up.”

Housing and social development minister Rich Coleman said he thinks the cuts to gaming grants won't diminish public support for gaming. The grants are still funding parent advisory councils, youth sports and some arts and culture programs, he said.

“The gaming grants are part of our overall budget,” he said in response to a question about how the government set the budget for grants at $120 million for 2010-2011. “We're facing a $1.7 billion deficit. That is on the backs of our children and our grandchildren, so you want to be as prudent as you possibly can.”

The province expects to net $1.1 billion in revenue from the B.C. Lottery Corporation in 2010-2011.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.

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12 Comments:

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  • ASKBiblitz.com

    2 years ago

    Open up clean, green and possibly native online gambling

    There is abundant evidence to support claims by First Nations of traditional rights to gamble. See http://www.askbiblitz.com/Indian-gambling.php for a glimpse. The only stumbling block is whether these rights are sufficient to trump provincial regulations barring such enterprises.

    Smoothing the path would be a wonderful way for the Crown to make up for the appalling way it hog-ties Indians to often remote aboriginal lands, which for reasons known only to the Crown, can only be managed according to a peculiar set of special rules that preclude profitable use.

    How great would it be to use the literally countless billions of dollars and legions of attorneys devoted exclusively to aboriginals to actually facilitate a clean, green and highly profitable industry on their behalf?

    And why stop there?

    Apparently, Quebec has proposed a scheme to legalize/regulate online gambling in partnership with B.C. and four Atlantic provinces.

    Bring it on!

    Gamblers will gamble, as Quebec and the U.S. have discovered. At least regulate the industry to keep it honest and tax it so that everyone including the addicts get beneficial programming.

  • PeteL

    2 years ago

    A poll

    The government has invested a lot of money in a slogan, So I'm wondering if the governments slogan,

    BC: The best place on earth

    or

    BC: The most corrupt place on earth

    which perception best describes the British Columbia reality.

    I think its dicey, but I think the question does have some merit.

  • circle A

    2 years ago

    Im gonna puke...

    if i hear that tub of shit coleman or his pencil neck weasel colleague hansen use the word prudent again,it`s hard enough not to puke when i hear them say anything.

  • Barryeng

    2 years ago

    Reality Check

    When only the churches ran bingos,and that was the only gaming available in BC, 100% of the money was retained by the church. Then the government stepped in and opened it up, only returning 60% (to charities and non-profits organizations). Then this *&@#$ government came to power, and greatly expanded gaming in BC, despite screaming against it in while in opposition. Now it looks like less than 10% will trickle back to only some of the charities.

    Hanson and Coleman are crying broke, but at the same time they are reducing taxes to the banks and oil companies, and expecting the poor and middle class in British Columbia to make up the difference. A reality check is in order. When there are no charities left in the province, and the poor have run out of money, what are Coleman, Hanson and their banking buddies going to do for money, sell the land? Oh, yes, I forgot. They are already doing that!

  • G West

    2 years ago

    A question

    Exactly what IS the level of public support for gambling?

  • Andrew MacLeod

    2 years ago

    Support

    According to the B.C. Lottery Corporation's annual report for 2008-2009, a survey of B.C. adults showed 65 percent support legalized gambling.

  • freebear

    2 years ago

    Legalized theft actually! Sanctioned Addiction!

    The government is the pusher man!

    Now if only the governmnet would heed its own warning when it comes to financing:

    Know your limit, stay within it!

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Thanks Andrew

    Do you have an actual reference to the poll - sample size and demographic details?

    My own view is that support depends a great deal upon what questions are asked and what is subsumed under the 'label' gambling.

    I'd be interested in exploring this a bit more - particularly since my recollection is that there were previous polls which showed that such things as video lottery terminals and slot machines were not popular at all.

  • Andrew MacLeod

    2 years ago

    Report

    Page 26 of the 2008-2009 annual report has a little more detail, including that public support is "continuously tracked" by an outside firm and that people are asked to rate their support on a seven-point scale, but does not talk about the sample size or other details:

    http://www.bclc.com/documents/annualreports/BCLCAnnualReport0809.pdf

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Yeah

    I just saw the same thing. It's actually pretty meaningless and amounts to little more than wishful thinking..

    I was just about to paste in the same reference:
    http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/pubdocs/bcdocs/440382/serviceplandetail_2008_2011pdf.pdf

  • G West

    2 years ago

    pretty sensible stuff - Coleman should read this

    http://www.cwf.ca/V2/files/200114.pdf

    And please note, Minister Coleman, this recommendation:

    Quote:
    The continued expansion of gambling in Canada, despite a universally acknowledged dearth of research, suggests that the potential harm associated with gambling is not receiving appropriate weight in government expansion planning. This is not to suggest that gambling should not
    expand, but the pace of this expansion to date has been unprecedented. The field of addiction research lags woefully behind the ability of governments to find new opportunities for gambling
    growth. A pause in expansion to consider the impact of the last eight years of aggressive expansion is critical if decisions are to be based on the best available research.
    To date in Canada few provinces have even had the opportunity to measure the change in rates of problem gambling estimates as a result of expansion, let alone consider the impacts of these changes or any long-term consequences. Given the potential for real harm associated with gambling and problem gambling, it is imprudent to continue to introduce new forms of gambling, increase the availability and access to existing forms of gambling, and introduce new
    technologies without due diligence. Without much needed research and an increase in our
    understanding of the impact of gambling, this level of care will not be possible.
    The primary barrier in advancing our knowledge of gambling’s impact is a lack of appropriate data collection. There needs to be an active, transparent and uniform attempt to collect data throughout all provinces and territories. The primary points of impact—health professionals,
    police, social service agencies, gaming retailers, coroners, and provincial and territorial gaming authorities—must be given the mandate and resources to collect gambling-relevant data at regular and consistent intervals. Further, provincial and territorial gaming authorities should
    collaborate with each other and with Statistics Canada to establish consistent, valid and reliable measures of gambling to be used in all provinces and territories. This would facilitate data comparability and allow for a richer understanding of gambling's costs and benefits.

    Maybe a good first effort would be to begin calling the practice what it actually is - GAMBLING not 'gaming'.

    How about it Mr Coleman

  • NormS

    2 years ago

    NDP policy on gaming grants?

    Since it was an NDP government that made the promise to share gaming revenue with nonprofits on a 1/3 basis, then never came through, I would like to hear their current polcy if and when they come to power again. I have a feeling they would also like to keep as much of the money as they think the public will tolerate.

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