By Jojo Ruba
Gamblers will not be able to play the odds at charity casinos after March 30, when temporary charity casinos will be closed by the province. Permanent casinos were expected to open late last year but the province, the city and the casino operators are slowing the process, leaving charities at risk.
Tim Armstrong, the executive director of the National Missing Children’s Locate Centre of Canada, says his organization used to get 90 per cent of its income from charity casinos. But when the Hull Casino opened, the centre’s profits dropped from $65,000 to $10,000. Now he says even some of that is being taken away.
“We’ve been doing charity casinos for four or five years and we did very well,” says Armstrong. “Now we have to replace it and it’s really hard. We go door-to-door, but donations already go down in winter.”
Right now charities can only raise money through temporary, three-day roving casinos. The province plans to open two permanent sites in Ottawa for charity games. It would regulate the casinos and take some of the profit, a portion going to charities.
However, when the roving casinos close, the permanent sites will not be operating. This means charities will have to find other sources of income until the casinos open. Peggy Shenck, of the City of Ottawa’s development department, says she does not expect the Ottawa charity casinos to open soon. She says the city is in charge of some regulations for the clubs but she has not received enough provincial direction.
“They said the municipalities’ role would be to decide on the space and the hours,” she says. “We would also decide which charities have access. They are supposed to give us guidelines and I’ve been trying to contact them for the last two weeks.”
Companies which submit their zoning application now will have to wait at least four months for it to be processed.
However, no one has even applied for a zoning application.
But Star of Fortune, one of the companies allowed to run a permanent casino, is negotiating with the owners of the Caplan building on Rideau St.
Eric Luke, president of Star of Fortune, says he would like a Second City comedy club in the building.
“We think it will provide a complete entertainment package for Ottawa,” says Luke. “We think the charity gaming club and the theatre are a fit for the Byward Market. This of course is contingent with city zoning bylaws.”
Luke says charities like Armstrong’s will benefit from the change. He says the charities will get 18 times their current profits by using a permanent site.
“Our cost will be reduced because we are now a fixed base instead of roving and therefore there will be more money to go around to charities.”
Armstrong says his charity will try to maintain its services, though the group may have to cut staff.
“It means we have to cut back until we know what will happen. It means we have to rely on volunteering a lot more heavily.”