WINNER

 

A couple of evenings ago a market research company called my cell phone. Would I be willing to do a survey on the gambling situation in the province? For once I wasn’t running around like a mad thing chasing my tail. Here would be an excuse to sit down for once, so I agreed.

The survey started in the usual way. Having got the demo/psycho pigeonholing out of the way we progressed to the nitty gritty.

Did I gamble? – Well I buy a lottery ticket about three times a year, does that count?

Was I aware of the…. mega list with everything from dog racing to bingo; scratch cards to casinos that followed? – Yes I was.

Did I indulge in any of the aforementioned list – See first answer.

Did I consider myself a problem gambler? – No I didn’t.

Did I ever lose more than I could afford through gambling? – Well to be honest that $5 on the Max is borderline but probably not what they’re looking for.

Was I aware of the various groups that help gamblers turn their backs on the whole malevolent practice? – Yes I was.

I was happily and somewhat smugly answering “no” to every question when she posed one that stopped me in my tracks –

Was I aware of the level of contribution to the arts, culture and sports of the province that is provided by lottery revenues? – Well, yes I was.

Did I approve of lottery revenues being used in that way – And there you have it. What to answer? Did I or did I not.

Back in the day, when my kids were at school I was an eager member of the four person parent fund raising committee. Those were the dark days of duhKlein, in Alberta and funding for anything remotely extra-curricular (like libraries and gym equipment) was non-existent. The four of us put our heads together and decided we wanted kid-centric, kid-participatory fund raising. Over the next four years we ran a book sale, two Spell-a-thons and two Art Fairs, selling donated art work from the kids, teachers and parents. It was a lot of work with not a great deal of support from the staff but despite all, we raised in the region of $82,000. The kids loved it, the parents loved it and there was rejoicing throughout the land. On the flip side another parent group decided all of that was far too much effort and took on working Bingos instead. In one night, they raised the amount that took us four years. No culture, no kid involvement, just feeding off the addictions of others.

So no, I did not. And here is the dilemma, the Catch-22. Like many communities, the arts, culture and sports sectors of this province are already severely unfunded. The tax base is miniscule and the government makes little effort to increase it. Wealthy philanthropists are also thin on the ground. So where else is the funding going to come from? Taxes? Fewer committees and studies on how to raise monies to fund arts and culture? Fewer raises for the ruling civil servants and their buddies and rellies hired to conduct the studies on how to raise monies to fund arts and culture? Entry fees for tourists? Well we all know none of those will get far up the flag pole.

The question remains, is it morally right for us to rely on the gambling habits of others to keep our culture alive? I’d be willing to bet (in moderation, of course) that those who finance lottery funding through the massive losses they incur and the resulting hardships their families endure are a lot less likely to benefit from attending art galleries and theatres; museums and concerts, than those who do not participate in gambling. Perhaps the coffers are tilted marginally more in their favour when libraries and sports events are the beneficiaries but it doesn’t seem like a fair exchange to me. ALC claims to have presented the provincial government with $137.9 million or 36 cents out of every dollar gambled in the 2017-2018 reporting year and that’s just on lotteries. Think of how many jobs could be created, medics hired or infrastructure repaired with that little pile.

But then where would our arts and sports and libraries be? Relying on our charitable endowment funds? Hmm! Somehow, countries with smaller populations than Canada get into the top ten list of per capita funding for the arts, so we can’t use that as an excuse. To our shame, Canada isn’t even in the top ten of the most recent list that I could find. Several of the countries that are right up there have benefited from much better deals on their Big Oil revenues than our governments have ever negotiated. Could that be the answer? Rather than Big Oil profits zipping their way straight past the border, wouldn’t it be a huge shot in the arm for a decent percentage to find its way into cleaning up our environment and funding our arts, sports and culture. These companies have been growing fat off our resources for decades. Isn’t it time for pay back? I know it’s a simplistic view of a complex problem and I know that many countries rely on lotteries in the same way that we do but imagine funding for the arts that didn’t have to rely on the addictions of others. Now that’s something I could vote for!

WINNER – Clo Carey, March 2019

Photo Credits:

Lottery Sign – Movie Marker

Lottery Winner Money – USA Today

Fund Retirement – Canadian Business

http://cfns-fcne.ca/en/charitableendowmentfunds

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-lottery-revenues-vlts-1.3689130

https://www.alc.ca/content/alc/en/corporate/giving-back/where-the-money-goes.html

https://gamingns.ca/what-we-do/community-support/

#BigOil #LotteryFunding #MoralDilemma #phonesurveys #gambling