SASKATOON – Who should gain the profits from gambling?
Provincial governments have been grabbing the lion’s share and then trickling some back to local communities.
But not enough, say some communities. A public meeting was scheduled May 8 in La Ronge, Sask. It was to decide whether to hold a plebiscite asking if residents want the 36 video lottery terminals in town removed. The province has said communities do not have the option to back out, but if it was allowed, the town would not share in any of the gambling revenues.
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With VLTs everywhere, rural hotel owners say if they don’t have them their customers will go to the next town that does. That was also the provincial government’s reasoning, so dollars wouldn’t slip south of the border.
While VLTs are seen as the most obvious face of gambling, casinos are almost as troublesome an issue. Voters, Indian bands, business owners, as well as politicians are all in the mix.
The Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business polled its membership this spring and found 68 percent do not want any more casinos in major cities, while 21 percent do want them.
Opponents say more casinos will “increase crime, gambling addiction and poverty. Casino jobs will be few in number and the market for gaming activities in Saskatchewan is overestimated and/or oversaturated.” They also say gambling revenue is money drained from other businesses or charity fund raising.
Supporters of casinos in the CFIB poll said more facilities “would attract new tourist visitors. The province must stay competitive with neighboring jurisdictions and encourage visitors and local residents to stay for longer periods of time and spend more in Saskatchewan. The revenues … would also provide a welcome boost to government.”
Five months ago, Saskatchewan Liberal leader Lynda Haverstock released her party’s policy on gambling. She said government’s role in gambling should be restricted to regulation and that at least half of all VLT revenue should remain in the community where it was generated.
Saskatoon said no
She also said no new casinos should be built without a public hearing and local approval and that charitable licences would be reviewed to ensure fairness.
Regina and Saskatoon each have a casino at their exhibition grounds and more had been proposed until this past fall. Saskatoon voters in a plebiscite rejected a downtown casino. Then this winter the provincial government came to an agreement with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, which the federal government has hailed as a model for other jurisdictions in Canada.
Under the agreement, casinos will be built in Regina and at four reserves. Revenues collected will be split with half going to the federation, 25 percent to approved charities and 25 percent to the provincial government.
