Report BRITISH COLUMBIA
The history of the lottery corporation began in the early 1970s when initially Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia formed a partnership to conduct lotteries in Western Canada and sales began in British Columbia in August 1974.
In 1985 after 10 years of co-operative selling under the umbrella of the Western Canada Lottery Foundation, British Columbia opened its own lottery called British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC).
In 1997 the casino operations model was developed when BCLC was given the responsibility to conduct and manage slot machines in the province.
The first 191 slot machines were activated in October 1997 at the Great Canadian Casino Newton in Surrey and during that year some 850 slots were also then installed by the corporation at six different casino locations – Billy Barker, Kelowna, Mandarin Centre, Royal Towers, Treasure Cove and Vernon. By the end of 1998 the total slot revenue for these seven casinos amounted to $40.7m.
The casino sector
provides almost 60 per cent of gambling
revenues. Net
income goes to the province to support programs, services and grants in the community whilst
local governments who host a casino receive 10 per cent
of the gambling net income. In 2011 more than $1bn was generated by
the BCLC gambling activities, which was paid into health care,
education and
community group services.
A year later in 1998 the BCLC also became responsible for table gaming in casinos in British Columbia and by the end of 1999 there were 17 casinos with a total slot revenue of $146m whilst table gaming saw total revenues of $161m. By the end of 1999 there were also 16 community casinos in operation including eight with slot machines. By 2011/12 the situation looked like this:
CASINOS The BCLC basically manages and operates commercial gaming on behalf of the Government of British Columbia. This includes the slots, table games and other gaming facilities which are available in the 17 casinos in the province, plus 17 community gaming centres (often branded Chances) and 10 commercial bingo halls located in 29 communities across the province.
The BCLC provides all the games and equipment and oversees the operation of the casinos. Private Service Providers (PSP) can then build, provide and operate facilities on BCLC’s behalf which means they finance the facility and pay the capital costs of development.
Currently the BCLC has agreements in place with more than 20 PSPs.
Meanwhile, PSPs can apply for a grant via the Facility Development Commission which helps set up the casino and developed the first casino model in 1997, however the service providers can only apply for the FDC after they have funded the project initially.
The casino sector provides almost 60 per cent of gambling revenues. Net income goes to the province to support programs, services and grants in the community whilst local governments who host a casino receive 10 per cent of the gambling net income. In 2011 more than $1bn was generated by the BCLC gambling activities, which was paid into health care, education and community group services.
Around 56% of net revenue from full service casino gaming is returned to the province which is higher than most other provinces in Canada, except Alberta (65%). Total casino revenue for 2011/12 was $1.35bn compared to $1.33 the previous year.
February 2013 PAGE 109
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