A Port Moody councillor is renewing her call for more equitable distribution of provincial gaming revenue.
Samantha Agtarap will introduce a resolution at Tuesday’s council meeting asking her colleagues to support a resolution to the Lower Mainland Local Government Association (LMLGA) and the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) that the provincial government distribute more of the gaming money it receives from sources like online gambling to communities that don’t have a casino.
Agtarap successfully advocated for a similar resolution two years ago.
In a report, Agtarap said the 10 per cent cut cities that have a casino get from their net revenues has created an “uneven playing field” with other communities that don’t have a casino.
Cities that have casinos are using the extra money, as well as the additional property taxes they generate, “to provide local amenities and improvements to services,” Agtarap said, while communities without a casino still have to provide services like hospitals or parks.
She added the inequity is further compounded because many of those services don’t in turn generate property taxes and they’re also used by people from neighbouring communities that have been enriched by casino money.
“It is hard to reconcile the inequity, or disregard the irony,” Agtarap said, adding the province could create a working group of interested communities to discuss policy changes that would lead to the more equitable sharing of gaming revenues.
According to the the BC Lottery Corporation that administers gaming, commercial gaming generated about $1.5 billion in revenue for the province.
Of that, $94.5 million was returned to communities with casinos while another $140 million was distributed to non-profit community organizations through grants, $147.3 million went into a special account to support health care and $1 billion went into a consolidated revenue fund to pay for government programs.
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