Province Loses Bet on Revenue From Gambling

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 04:36 AM

Recession blamed for drop in revenue at casino's throughout the province

Prince George, B.C. - The fiscal year that ended March 31^st of 2010 was not one of growth for the Treasure Cove Casino, at least not when it comes to the revenue from gambling.

The Treasure Cove casino revenue was $41,300,000. The slot machines picked up the bulk of the cash, generating $38,951,000 while the table gaming brought in the $2,348,000 balance.

The overall total is down from $42,623,000 the previous year. The impact of the recession is being blamed for the drop.

The Treasure Cove was not the only casino to see a drop in revenue. Only four of the 17 casinos in the province saw gains in gaming activity meaning the overall revenue from gaming was down $19.7 million over the previous year, and down $77.4 million from the projected budgets.

The BC Lottery Corporation says the Olympics created traffic restrictions which had a negative impact on Casinos. That, combined with reduced access to the Edgewater Casino and the closure of the Hastings Park Racetrack Casino for 30 days had an impact on the bottom line in the lower mainland, but in this neck of the woods, the economy is being blamed.

“General economic conditions continued to be a major influence on spending” reads the BCLC Annual Report which shows budgeted slot machine revenue throughout the province was down by nearly $71 million or nearly 7%.

As for Bingo, it is a little more difficult to make an accurate comparison in Prince George because of changes that took place over the two fiscal years.

The Chances Good Time Bingo moved to the Treasure Cove Casino part way through the most recent fiscal year. The numbers presented are only for comparison as the shift in location and any downtime have to be considered. In ‘08/’09, total “Community Gaming Revenue” at Chances was $14.39 Million. In ‘09/’10, the combined revenue from the former Chances and the new site at Treasure Cove was just over $9.34 million.

Quesnel also saw a drop in activity at its casino with revenue of $9.427 million in the year ending March 31^st 2010, compared to revenue of $10.170 million in the same period ending March 31^st 2009.

The reduced revenue will trickle over to the cities which host the facilities. For Prince George it means the city will get $42 thousand for it’s share of community gaming this year, down from $204 thousand a year ago, and $2.4 million from the Casino, that’s down about a hundred thousand dollars from the previous year.

The year end report for the B.C. Lottery Commission was released in mid July but was virtually ignored because of issues of on line privacy for those taking party in online gaming.

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Posted on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 04:36 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: acrider54 on September 28 2010 5:22 AM

Gee, that's too bad but I guess that's why we have new taxes and fines now.

Posted by: Norm on September 28 2010 7:30 AM

know your limit and play within it. maybe it's time to fold and go home?

Posted by: He spoke on September 28 2010 7:41 AM

yeah, its all my fault. I signed myself out for a year.

Posted by: He spoke on September 28 2010 7:43 AM

BC Lotteries are a bunch of theives anyway. The Charity Bingo's were established to help the community non profit organizations. Then BC Lotteries muscle their way in, make laws against competion and then forget about all the non profit organizations.

Theives, thats what they are.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on September 28 2010 7:50 AM

Agreed He spoke!
Which makes the government thieves.
One is the same as the other.

Posted by: IMO on September 28 2010 8:02 AM

The Prince George Casino is one of the tightest there is. Before I signed myself out like He Spoke I use to go to Quesnel. Gambling is not a win win for anyone else but the government and the casino itself. The best thing for any gambler to do if they really want to win is to volunteer to remove yourself. I did for three years and walked out the last time feeling like more a winner than ever before. Now government has allowed online gambling so you will see a lot of casinos hurting.

The best thing I ever did was walk away and keep my money.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on September 28 2010 8:14 AM

Bravo He spoke and IMO!

Posted by: He spoke on September 28 2010 8:23 AM

Fortunately, i recognize what was going on and decided to act on it. Gambling is no different than Alchol addiction. If left unchecked it will destroy you.

Unfortunately, my self exclusion is done in a next month.

I will just have to control it.... again

Posted by: He spoke on September 28 2010 8:24 AM

See Andy, we are not all knuckle dragging buffoons, which we like to hide behind calling ourselves a bunch of rednecks.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on September 28 2010 8:49 AM

The truly disgusting part,He spoke,is that gambling is government sanctioned.
They know full well what it does to people and the lives it destroys.
To them,money is more important than people and families.
A government promoting gambling is about the same as offering an alcoholic a drink.
Some can resist the temptation and some can't, but the fact that the offer is even made in the first place,is disgusting.

Posted by: whitewater on September 28 2010 8:50 AM

I wish I had signed myself out before I lost everything. I’ll never set foot in another casino again.

Posted by: He spoke on September 28 2010 9:00 AM

In this province and country, How many millions of lives it has destroyed and are destroying. They do their part of "know your Limit" as a token gesture to due dilegence.

The worst situation is a smoker, who drinks and gambles. The government likely owns 70% of your income.

Posted by: gus on September 28 2010 9:03 AM

PG and BC are not following the national trend according to this article: http://www.montrealgazette.com/More+Canadians+placing+bets+gambling+revenues+spike/3454327/story.html

"Proving they aren't afraid of making a bet, Canadians spent nearly $14 billion on government-run gambling in 2009, says Statistics Canada.

"Net revenue from lotteries, video lottery terminals (VLTs), casinos and slot machines rose to $13.75 billion in 2009, slightly higher than $13.67 billion the year before, said the report released Friday. The figure is also higher than it was in 2007, when revenues hit $13.7 billion."

Posted by: gus on September 28 2010 9:10 AM

According to Vaughn Palmer's recent article in the Sun, it is called "a tax on the stupid."

From his article:

"Interestingly, while gambling revenues have increased under the Liberals, so has the share of dollars held back from the prize pool. This so-called "tax on the stupid," which was 64 per cent of total revenues in 2001, amounts to 77 per cent today."

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Lucrative+gambling+profits+beckon+Liberals+grab+more+action/3285878/story.html

The price of "freedom".

Posted by: hammmy on September 28 2010 9:14 AM

How many mills have closed...how many people have moved away,doesn't take much to figure out! some of that extra "Fun" money just isn't there any more.

Posted by: He spoke on September 28 2010 9:57 AM

Funny how signing out works, if you sign out and your caught in there, they escort you out, if they fail to catch you and you win a jackpot, you can not claim it. However if you sign out, and they do not throw you out, and you loose everything, it leaves the casino responsible for some of your losses. When are people going to take responsibility for themselves.

Gambling is an addiction, I can vouch for that. Gambling and winning is fun, I can vouch for that. Gambling and loosing, sucks, I can vouch for that. But once I signed on the line, Never have I even been tempted to go back in for the time I signed out.

So if you sign out, and your tempted to go back in, than you have a serious addiction problem, go to Gamblers anonymous and deal with it. If you sign out, and can stay out without temptation, than it can be kept in control.

Posted by: govsux on September 28 2010 2:32 PM

Governments all over the country can no longer function without gaming revenue.....sad.

Posted by: frankgeorgeson on September 28 2010 3:38 PM

Need better picture with Annerose's bear!

Aneerose's bear looks much better than the building.

Annerose has a new show in Penticton opening in January. This maybe considered a nepotism posting.

Frank

Posted by: Harbinger on September 28 2010 5:30 PM

Maybe if people could take their alcoholic drinks off their purple carpet and drink while they gamble it might improve things. How about FREE alcoholic drinks for the gamblers just like in Vegas or Reno? Maybe even a can of Orange Crush and you at a one armed bandit? What a joke of a casino!

Posted by: hammmy on September 28 2010 7:05 PM

With the drinking restrictions we have now Harbinger, I don't think that will be happening any time soon!

Posted by: Harbinger on September 28 2010 7:56 PM

We are soooo "world class", eh?