Online gaming raising concerns

Belleville Mayor Mitch Panciuk says with the talk of iGaming heating up, the concern he has is that the new system needs to be fair to those communities with casinos.

“There’s a concern that this proposal is unfair to the folks who have to run these facilities and also we don’t get the revenue stream from them.”

He says the United States has recently done something similar to regulate online gaming, but it has still impacted brick and mortar casinos.A report for Great Canadian prepared by HLT Advisory, estimates with iGaming, Belleville could lose $4.6 million in municipal payments over the next five years along with the loss of jobs.According to the Toronto Star, Great Canadian Gaming states online sites would ‘cannibalize’ the profits of brick and mortar casinos and predicts about 2,600 lost casino jobs and $2.8 billion less in tax revenue over five years across the 12 casinos Great Canadian operates in Ontario.Great Canadian CEO Tony Rodio said the provincial government needs to take the time to get this right and help find a solution that supports the casino industry’s recovery.Mayor Panciuk says there are lots of concerns and lots at stake.

“The other concern though is that this proposal has a revenue sharing, which means the province would receive all the benefits and that the municipality, host communities, would not. So, there’s lots at stake and lots of concerns, but we are working as a group.”

He says he has spoken with MPP Todd Smith and MPP Darryl Kramp about iGaming and to take another look at the issue.Panciuk did note any funds received from the casino as non-tax gaming revenue is put into reserve accounts which pays for any “extras” locally.

“We have taken steps to protect us from being addicted to casino lottery funding. What I mean by that is all the funds that come in go into a reserve account, we don’t spend it until we get it. We have categories where we allocate it, it goes towards things we wouldn’t normally be able to do. So it’s for extras.”

He said the City received some really good advice when the casino first came to Belleville about how to manage the non-tax gaming revenue, and council made sure the funds do not support core city services.Panciuk says if the funding formula were to change, there wouldn’t be a collapse of services. He said because of COVID-19 casino revenues dropped, but it didn’t effect the city in any significant way.The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. is currently the province’s only option for legal online and sports betting.