St. Albert calls for updated charitable gaming model

The City of St. Albert is leading a call for the Alberta government to change the charitable gaming model, which funnels casino revenues to charities and non-profits. One of the city's resolutions at the upcoming Alberta Municipalities convention says casino revenues are not distributed equally, and the frequency of revenue-generating opportunities varies greatly depending on the region. For example, based on figures from 2024, charities in the Camrose casino region typically had to wait about 40 months for their turn to host casino fundraising events, with an annualized return below $6,000, whereas charities in Edmonton only had to wait about 22 months, with a return of over $40,000. This helps explain, perhaps, why one of Camrose's casinos was moved to Edmonton while keeping its proceeds in the rural pool. St. Albert's wait was 31 months, with the annualized return just over $7,000.

ABMunis saw similar resolutions in 2009, 2018, and 2022, with the most recent one responding to a report that raised several recommendations for improving the model. The resolution says the Alberta government and Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (which is headquartered in St. Albert) have not implemented policy changes to address the report. The resolution goes on to say that online gaming revenue through Play Alberta has grown from $37 million in 2020 to $270 million in 2025, demonstrating further need to update the model.

This is one of 20 resolutions expected to be debated at the convention, taking place in Edmonton from Sept. 23 to 25. One of the City of Edmonton's resolutions asks ABmunis to advocate to the provincial government to allow all municipalities to introduce a tax subclass for derelict non-residential properties and to make improvements to current legislation. Edmonton and Calgary are allowed to introduce such a tax, and Edmonton is indeed working on one, but provincial legislation restricts its effectiveness, the resolution says. Seconded by the Town of Peace River, Edmonton is asking for advocacy to remove a requirement that properties must be unoccupied for a year to be assessed as derelict and to increase the maximum tax rate on such properties, in addition to making the power universal.