Casinos in B.C. have been shut down since March due to COVID-19 (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

GAMING REVENUES

City of Kamloops, local organizations to start feeling loss of gaming revenues soon

May 4, 2020 | 5:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — When provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people in March, casinos were among the first major establishments to shut their doors.

Nearly two months later, the closures are now being felt by municipalities that rely on gaming revenue from the province and individual organizations that receive gaming grants every year.

At the Boys & Girls Club of Kamloops, its $1.8 million budget has been stretch during the pandemic but it’s making adjustments to offer services to the community.

“For the most part, we’ve been able to source funding right through other avenues, which has been really great through some emergency funding and things like that,” said executive director of the boys and girls club Traci Anderson.

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But the boys and girls club is down in gaming revenues — receiving $60,000 of the 2019 pot, a 25 per cent cut, with expectations to get little to nothing from this year’s revenues with casinos across the province shut down.

“That just means that we’re going to have to source those funds other routes and through other donors and events, which also we’re a little inhibited. We’re not able to do what we normally would be doing around that,” said Anderson.

Anderson says most of the gaming grants are put towards the Power Start program, which feds children breakfast before school. The program will continue, but money will have to come from elsewhere.

Meantime, the City of Kamloops, which receives a cut of gaming revenue from the two casinos in the city, is expecting to lose out on money as well from the closures due to COVID-19.

“So far this year, from an actual cash perspective, we’re not short at all because we got an April payout from January to March, which was pretty comparable to previous years,” noted the city’s corporate services director Kathy Humphrey. “But as we all know, the casinos have been closed since the end of March, and so we’re anticipating quarter two to be basically zero.”

The city usually rakes in about $2.6 million a year from gaming revenues. The projected drop has put projects like downtown improvements on Victoria Street and phase two of the McArthur Island Community Park Project on hold.

Mayor Ken Christian says the challenging aspect of the casino closures is there’s no way to project future gaming funds, even when they re-open.

“Those would be some of the last facilities to come back online, and whether or not people are comfortable in those environments is going to be an issue and whether or not people have the disposable income to use in those recreational venues is another issue,” said Christian in his media address on Friday.

The boys and girls club is holding on for the time being, but knows the worst is yet to come with a drop in gaming grants.

“It could mean scaling back some programs, definitely,” said Anderson. “We’re a not-for-profit, so we obviously can’t offer more than our means. But our community in Kamloops has bene very generous, especially for the Power Start programs, so I do forsee we’re going to make things work.”