Skating on thin ice

Wildrose proposal for hockey Keno isn’t the best use of lottery revenue

During last spring’s provincial election campaign, one of the Wildrose Party’s policies was to “invest in proven community organizations and programs that work to prevent, assist and treat victims of addiction and abuse — this should include the reallocation of a significant amount of gambling revenues to such initiatives.”

Now, Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith wants to see a significant amount of gambling revenues allocated for the frivolous and non-urgent purpose of building arenas in Calgary and Edmonton.

Smith has proposed rebranding the existing Keno lottery, so that it sports the Flames’ and Oilers’ colours and logos, and have the bulk of the revenue go to the municipalities to be used for arenas for the teams. She says $100 million could be raised for those projects over the next five to 10 years to partly fund new facilities in both cities.

New arenas are a nice-to-have, but if they are high on either city’s priority list, then the municipalities should direct existing funds to their construction. Creating a special lottery fund to support arenas takes away revenue that should be used for other things, such as funding for programs that treat people suffering from addiction and abuse.

There is only one pocket that all the money comes from, and if Albertans are drawn to a lottery game focused on funding hockey arenas, it is highly likely they will cut their spending on other lotteries whose reve- nue is distributed to 13 ministries, and to foundations and grants for diverse community initiatives, as well as to many charities.

According to the Alberta Lottery Fund, $1.44 billion in lottery revenue was distributed in the fiscal year 2011-2012 among those 13 ministries, ranging from $500,000 to Environment, to $63.5 million for Children and Youth Services, to a high of $420.5 million to the Health ministry. Apart from this list, of course, are the charities whose lifeblood also depends on receiving millions in lottery revenue.

The timing of the Wildrose’s proposal is curious, too. It would be one thing if it came while either the Oilers or the Flames were in the run-up to the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the arenas are empty and no hockey is being played as the NHL labour dispute drags on through this non-season.

At a time when the province is looking at a deficit budget and Health Minister Fred Horne is hinting at alternative means — which implies borrowing or publicprivate partnerships — to help pay for a new cancer centre in Calgary, the notion that a new revenue stream should be directed at sports arenas is naive and frivolous.

It also sets a dangerous precedent to set up a lottery with such a narrow target. It opens the door for any group to demand that they, too, should just sit back and be awarded lottery largesse. In the final analysis, Smith’s proposal is just not a good bet.