The Conservative MLA for Prince George-Valemount is calling on the provincial government to increase grant funding from gaming revenues sent to non-profits and parent advisory committees, saying a Prince George non-profit is being disadvantaged under the current system.
Rosalyn Bird and the Conservative Party of BC sent out a media release Monday, Jan. 27 criticizing the lack of growth of funds provided under the community gaming grants program.
“In the 2022/23 fiscal year, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) reported a record net income of $1.6 billion for the province, fuelled by growth in gambling activity and the legalization of single-event sports betting,” the Tories’ release said.
“However, funding for non-profits through the Community Gaming Grants program has remained stagnant at $140 million annually for nearly a decade.”
The release said that the Prince George Regional Highway Rescue Society, which responds to out-of-jurisdiction motor vehicle accidents in the Fraser Fort-George Regional District, received $100,000 from the grant program in 2022-23 but $75,000 in 2023-24.
Data from the province’s website shows that program funding was around $135 million in the 2014-15 fiscal years, going up to around $139.4 million in 2016-17 and then to $144.3 million in 2017-18 before plateauing between $139.5 and $140 million in the years since.
This is backed up by the provincial government’s data, which shows that the society received $75,000 in 2023-24, $100,000 in 2022-23, 2021-22, 2020-21, 2019-20, 2018-19 and 2014-15, $60,000 in 2017-18 and 2016-17 and $175,000 in 2015-16.
However, The Citizen was unable to reach the society for comment and ask what its funding requests from the program had been in those fiscal years.
This year, the release said, the society has asked for $125,000 but has yet to hear if its application has been successful.
In a phone interview from Victoria, Bird said the society reached out to discuss its funding situation with her.
“I’m shocked that organization actually depends on gaming funding,” Bird said. “It is a vital, vital rescue operation in the north. Those guys cover 24,000 square kilometres of roads and they respond to areas that police, fire and ambulance don’t.”
Bird said the society told her that they don’t know why their grant was reduced in the 2023-24 fiscal year and that this year’s funding announcements are late, usually taking place at the beginning of the year.
Given the strong gaming revenues, Bird said more money should be disbursed to community organizations, the process to apply for grants should be streamlined and the province should be more transparent in breaking down where all the money collected from gaming is sent and for what purpose.
At the same time, Bird said, it would be an opportune moment to review municipalities’ share of gaming revenues as more and more responsibilities are downloaded from the provincial level.
As an example, she mentioned Prince George having to house wildfire evacuees last year.
She said she’s doing more research on the topic before speaking with government representatives about the issue.
The amount of funding Prince George organizations have received from community gaming grants have varied from year to year.
Here’s the total amount of funding local organizations have received in the last five fiscal years, according to data from the province’s website for the program:
- 2023-24: $4,013,311
- 2022-23: $3,997,850
- 2021-22: $4,800,189
- 2020-21: $4,448,595
- 2019-20: $4,317,360
- 2018-19: $4,454,136
- 2017-18: $4,207,040
- 2016-17: $4,206,660
- 2015-16: $4,326,526
- 2014-15: $4,778,360
Those figures show that Prince George organizations received the lowest total funding from the community gaming grants in the last two fiscal years over the last decade.
Bird said the amount of money disbursed via community gaming grants has not substantially increase over the last decade.
Here are the total figures for those same years:
- 2023-24: $139,899,232
- 2022-23: $139,784,291
- 2021-22: $139,941,026.23
- 2020-21: $139,856,014
- 2019-20: $139,868,971
- 2018-19: $139,766,381
- 2017-18: $144,303,903.82
- 2016-17: $139,340,639
- 2015-16: $135,133,369
- 2014-15: $134,917,800
While the total amount of funding is generally higher than it was a decade ago, there has been little change since the high point in 2017-18.
The percentage of total funding Prince George received from the total amount of funding over the last decade looks like this:
- 2023-24: 2.87 per cent
- 2022-23: 2.86 per cent
- 2021-22: 3.43 per cent
- 2020-21: 3.09 per cent
- 2019-20: 3.09 per cent
- 2018-19: 3.18 per cent
- 2017-18: 2.91 per cent
- 2016-17: 3.02 per cent
- 2015-16: 3.2 per cent
- 2014-15: 3.54 per cent
Like with the funding amounts, Prince George received its lowest share of the entire gaming grants pool over the last decade in the last two fiscal years.
In an email response to questions about the program and Bird’s concerns, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport said there “are many applications doing incredible and important work, including the Prince George Regional Highway Rescue (Society).”
They also said that grants are typically paid out within 12 to 16 weeks of an application being submitted.
To Bird’s point about wanting more transparency in how gaming revenues are allocated, the spokesperson pointed to a webpage for the British Columbia Lottery Corporation detailing how the province spent the $1.5 billion in gaming revenues it earned in the 2023-24 fiscal year.
It included $1 billion into the province’s general revenue fund, $147.3 million in transfers to the provincial health special account, $140 million for community gaming grants, $107.5 million in revenues shared with First Nations, $94.5 million in Host Local Government payments to municipalities and First Nations that host gaming facilities, $16 million to fund the BCLC’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, $9.1 million to support the province’s horse racing industry, $4.6 million for the province’s responsible gambling strategy and $3.3 million in funding for the Joint Illegal Gaming Investigation Team.
There’s also a drop-down menu where visitors to the site can click on a community to see what it has received from gambling revenues. Prince George’s section on the site shows a statistic that the city earned $3.03 million in revenues shared from the operation of the Treasure Cove Casino in 2023-24.
According to the spokesperson, geographical location is not a factor when grant applications are being considered except when grants for capital programs are being discussed.
“Grant levels are assessed and distributed based on demand, resulting in fluctuating funding levels each year,” they wrote. “Grant funding is also determined by the current financial state of the organization.”
However, the spokesperson did not say when exactly grant applicants for 2024-25 could expect to receive notice of whether their applications were successful and for their funding amounts to be released publicly.
