Government may boost grants from gambling proceeds

VICTORIA — The B.C. government is considering increasing the budget for gambling grants to thousands of non-profit groups and charities.

Community Minister Peter Fassbender acknowledged in an interview Wednesday a funding boost is one option he’s analyzing for the community gaming-grant program, which has been frozen at $135 million annually for the past five years.

“Yes we are looking at that, and we will take recommendations forward as we move forward in both the upcoming budget and future budgets,” he said. “But we get close to 5,000 applications every year and so that’s a lot of requests. There’s always a limitation.”

More than 5,000 community groups receive gambling grants each year, including amateur sports teams, museums, theatres, daycares, shelters, food banks, parent advisory councils, search-and-rescue organizations and volunteer fire departments. Many say that without the money, they wouldn’t be able to operate.

The grant budget has fluctuated, from a high of almost $160 million in 2008 to as low as $120 million in 2010 when government cut back money during the recession. Premier Christy Clark responded to public backlash during her 2010 B.C. Liberal party leadership bid by promising to add $15 million to the grant program — which ultimately set the current level.

“There’s no question we could always use more, simply because the number of applications continues to grow,” Fassbender said. “That becomes a budget discussion that we have to have in government. At one time it was a high of $156 million and when the economy turned down and gaming revenues were challenged it was cut back to $135 million and stayed there. So we are looking at the need.

“It has to be balanced out as you know against all of the other competing priorities within government for funding. And gaming revenues have contributed to education, health care and other social services.”

NDP critic Selina Robinson said government should be making larger improvements, because she’s heard of some sports groups — including a girls ice-hockey team in Langley — who have been waiting for months to hear if they got a grant. She called for multi-year funding and a boost to the budget.

“The economy, apparently, is booming,” said Robinson, who added that she was being sarcastic.

“We have balanced budgets coming out of our ears,” she added.

“How is it communities are still living under an austerity program?”

Community groups thought they had a deal in 1999 to set gaming grants at one-third of all gambling revenue, but subsequent governments have argued that deal was non-binding. Using that formula would triple the current grant budget to more than $400 million, out of an estimated $1.3 billion in net revenue from the B.C. Lottery Corp.

B.C. Auditor General Carol Bellringer weighed in on gambling grants with a report Wednesday in which she said the program is overdue for a review into its budget, method of delivery, rationale and outcomes. Clark said government accepts all of the recommendations.