RMA seeking formal review of province’s charitable gaming model

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The Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) is asking the province for a formal review of the current charitable gaming model, a system the organization says is unfair to non-profits in rural communities. 

Alberta charitable organizations can obtain a license to conduct and manage casino events, and charitable organizations make thousands from these volunteer-run events. But there’s a wide disparity in how much charities make depending on what region they’re in.

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For example, according to the RMA casino events run by Calgary charitable organizations receive an annualized return — a measure of both how much a group makes from a casino and long it waits for one — of $42,000 on average and will host a casino event every 20 months. Meanwhile, in rural communities outside Calgary charitable organizations receive an annualized return of $16,000 on average and wait 36 months between casinos. 

“We’re hearing anecdotal stories of a hockey team can make $150,000 in two days in Calgary, and then one day in Red Deer you get $8,000,” said RMA president Paul McLauchlin during an interview with Postmedia. “It’s almost like it’s not even the same system really.”

The RMA, which represents Alberta’s 69 counties and municipal districts, has come up with recommendations to help fix the current system, including one that would see a portion of the revenues generated in each region pooled and distributed equally to all regions. That would significantly reduce the current revenue gap among regions, the RMA says.

“The problem is as soon as you pool, then you’re taking away from those urban charities and then it gets political, but at the same time it just has to be fair,” said McLauchlin.

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But he said that political problem could be solved if the province would allow charities to have a slice of online gaming revenues generated through its Play Alberta site, which is run by Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC).

“There’s an opportunity to make everybody whole if they looked at the online gaming proceeds flowing into the same system as well as potentially bumping it all up,” said McLauchlin. 

The RMA also wants travel and expense policies changed to help out rural charitable organizations. The RMA says rural non-profits currently pay unfair extra travel and expense costs to have their volunteers travel to casinos in Alberta cities. 

“I’m an hour from Red Deer, so my travel time and my expenses, and I usually have to stay the night because I don’t live in Red Deer, those are taken away from the actual charitable proceeding,” said McLauchlin, Ponoka County’s reeve. 

The Rural Municipalities of Alberta also wants the charitable gaming model reviewed regularly.

“This has been a political issue for a really long time,” said McLauchlin, adding he remembers the issue being discussed when he joined the RMA’s board roughly seven years ago.

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In February 2023, RMA members voted in favour of a Northern Sunrise County resolution to advocate to the Alberta government and AGLC to reform Alberta’s charitable gaming model “to provide equity to all charitable organizations in Alberta.” The resolution called for the province to address the disparity between the funding provided to charitable organizations in major urban centers compared with those in rural communities, as well as making casino opportunities more frequently available to charities in rural areas.

“It was something that was a big ask last year, and then time goes by and nobody hears anything, so we’ve got to bring it back up again,” he said.

The RMA is sending a letter to the province this week seeking a formal review of the current charitable gaming model, said McLauchlin.

Nicky Gocuan, press secretary to Service Alberta And Red Tape Reduction minister Dale Nally, said in an emailed statement to Postmedia that while the Alberta government is proud of its unique charitable gaming model, which has provided more than $383 million to help support Alberta’s charitable and religious organizations in delivering critical programs and services to Albertans.

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“We recognize there are still more opportunities to strengthen the charitable gaming model and the need to study how we can improve the support of charitable organizations from the rural communities,” said Gocuan.

The province will conducting a review of AGLC operations “as part of our commitment to ensure our agencies continue to serve the best interests of Albertans,” the statement said.

In line with Premier Danielle Smith’s mandate letter to Nally, the review will include how the province can further increase contributions from AGLC-regulated industries to Alberta charities and community facilities, said Gocuan,

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