City Council is being asked to double down on its effort in considering the true cost of a casino in the community.
Janet Zimbalatti, secretary of the Blue Sky Bingo Hall Charity Association, took to the podium in council chambers on Monday night to ask that the city do an economic impact study for the proposed casino, and take a sober second look at the the derived community benefit of bringing one to the area.
See previous story: Casino still very much in play
Despite the potential profit to the city, a privately operated casino under the supervision of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation would negatively affect the charity’s fundraising efforts, she argued.
“If a casino were to be approved here, we would be concerned, first of all, that local quality of life would suffer if the bingo charities are not able to meet their mandates, and second, that this district will be paying disproportionately for provincial quality of life through the OLG,” said Zimbalatti.
“We’re calling on the City of North Bay to conduct an economic impact survey right now, before giving the casino final approval, in order to determine if the casino is viable long-term in North Bay and what, in fact, will be the derived community benefit,” she added.
As Zimbalatti explained, Blue Sky Bingo’s proceeds benefit up to 57 charitable organizations locally, ranging from poverty relief efforts, educational charities, arts and heritage charities, health and accessibility services and 26 youth sporting activities, among others.
The group receives 45 per cent of the profit sharing from all games and concessions at Blue Sky Bingo, which are paid directly to the charities to fund their community efforts and by law must be spent to benefit local causes.
“If a casino were to be established, the population of North Bay and Nipissing District, which currently support the bingo hall, would spend their recreational dollars at the casino and bingo gaming would decline drastically or disappear,” she explained. “These charities, through their many volunteers, directly impact the lives of thousands of local residents and help make North Bay and district a great place to live.
“If it the independent study finds that the long-term viability of a casino is feasible and that there is derived community benefit to the region, we’re calling on you to mitigate the impact on current charities which participate in bingo gaming fundraising and use part of the municipal share to bring the fundraising revenue of each charity to the same level in the final year before the casino starts operation,” she added.
Through their efforts, she estimated that the organization’s charities contributed up to $1.2 million to the district economy and spent close to $250,000 on advertising alone in 2014.
City Council backed the early stages of the OLG process in 2012 to ensure there was community interest and the OLG is now finalizing the request for proposal process for the Northern Gaming Bundle, which includes Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Kenora.
New facilities will be built in North Bay and Kenora, while existing facilities will be taken over by the service provider in the other three.
But Zimbalatti said that when the OLG Casino was established in Thunder Bay a decade ago, the local bingo charities’ profit share dropped to 20 per cent of pre-casino levels.
“One of the reasons this decline would happen dramatically is due to the nature of bingo gaming - a small reduction in hall attendance in the short term has a trickle-down affect in the attendance long-term,” said Zimbalatti. “As attendance declines, the progressive prices that drive attendance grow slowly.”
She also cited reports from 2013 in which the OLG predicted that the municipal share from a casino in the area would be between $1 million and $2 million for the city.
She said the 20 existing slots and casinos in the province had collective growth revenue of approximately $2 billion and expenses of $1 billion, with the net revenue of roughly $1 billion being funneled through to the provincial government.
In other words, for every $100 spent on recreation at slots and casinos, $50 went to the province.
“In the current economic climate of North Bay and district, could we afford to have a similar annual percentage of recreational money leave our community to be spent at the province?” she asked.
“If a casino in North Bay were to gross a revenue of $20 million in one year, expenses of five per cent would go to the city, 45 per cent for expenses […], and that still leaves 50 per cent, or $10 million a year, going to the province directly from this region,” she added.
If an economic impact study is to be issued, it will be up to a member of council to bring the proposal forward.
Community Services chairman Mark King questioned the opportunity cost of potentially passing on the casino.
“We really don’t have full control of this situation and if we don’t support it, and we support these groups and [the casino] goes next door, we’ve still got the same situation,” King said after the meeting.
“Fifty per cent of the money goes to the province and disappears out of the area, which is very, very concerning,” he added. “We all know how difficult it is to get provincial financing - it’s a battle that everyone goes through - and I’m not so sure whether we’ll get that money back or not.”
