The Ontario Charitable Gaming Association (OCCA) is pushing City Hall for an exemption to a proposed ban on smoking in all enclosed public spaces in Sault Ste. Marie.
The Association, representing about 6,000 charities and nonprofits that raise funds through bingo and other gaming activities, suggests that a total ban on smoking will result in dramatic decreases in bingo revenues.
"If you decide to implement a by-law requiring that bingo halls be 100% smoke free, providing compensation to charities and non-profits to meet their fundraising needs must be considered," says Lynn Cassidy, the association's executive director.
The following is the full text of a letter sent by Cassidy to the City:
************************************************************* Wednesday September 18, 2002 City of Sault Ste. Marie 99 Foster Drive - Civic Centre Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario P6A 5X6 Originally Sent May 29, 2002
URGENT VIA FAX
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing on behalf of the many charities and non-profit organizations that raise funds through licensed bingo in the Sault Ste. Marie region.
The Ontario Charitable Gaming Association (OCCA) represents approximately 6,000 charities and non-profit organizations across the province that raise funds through charitable gaming.
As you are no doubt aware charitable gaming, and in particular charitable bingo, provides substantial revenue for community activities in the Sault Ste. Marie area.
Fundraising through bingo has become increasingly difficult in recent years as charity bingo continues to race increasingly strong competition from government-run gaming and other forms of entertainment.
Many of our members are concerned about the serious implications for charities if the City of Sault Ste. Marie removes the smoking by-law exemption from bingo halls.
We are requesting that city council give very serious consideration to the impact that removing this exemption will have on the ability of your charities to raise much needed funds for the community.
A 100% smoke-free environment simply does not reflect the reality of the charity bingo environment and obvious preference of the large percentage of the patrons.
This is confirmed by the experience in the Region of Waterloo.
As you maybe are aware, the Region of Waterloo implemented a by-law requiring that bingo halls be 100% smoke free on January 1, 2000.
The impact on charity revenues has been drastic.
After a year of data we are able to analyze the impact on charitable bingo.
There were four halls in the Waterloo Region as of January 2000.
One hall could not survive the change and closed at the end of June.
The other three halls experienced significant drops in revenues.
Charity revenues alone dropped 49.5%, 51.9% and 71%.
Two cities, Cambridge and Kitchener lifted all licence fees.
This resulted in a loss of over $300,000 for these two cities.
The City of Waterloo continued to charge licence fees and experienced a hall closure and a 71% decline in charity revenues in the other hall.
As well, many charities gave up on charitable bingo as form of fundraising impacting services in the community.
We must emphasize that your charities are not the same as private, for-profit businesses they are charities and nonprofit organization that staff their bingo events with volunteers.
These volunteers give up time with their families, businesses and other important pursuits to improve the community in which we all live.
Local municipalities need to focus on ways to make fundraising easier for charities, rather than more difficult.
Our strong recommendation to you is that you continue to exempt bingo halls from the smoking by-law.
Some bingo halls in the province have completely separate, enclosed and vented smoking areas.
This approach would be, in our view, more considerate of the needs of charities.
If you decide to implement a by-law requiring that bingo halls be 100% smoke free, providing compensation to charities and non-profits to meet their fundraising needs must be considered.
This approach has been taken by the City of Ottawa. The by-law was passed with an amendment requesting that city staff prepare a report to address the concerns of charities and non-profits that use bingo for fundraising.
That the solution to be considered are to include, but are not limited to:
- reducing or waiving bingo licence fees - priority funding for non-committed casino revenue and for new dollars from the People Services envelop: - and, any other measure that could assist the organization in meeting the needs of the comrnunity - in Ottawa, the charity coordinator for this issue continues to work with City staff to assess the impact of the non-smoking bylaw
We recognize and support the need to address this significant health issue, but it needs to be done in a way that has minimum impact on the charities and non-profits that contribute so much to our communities.
On behalf of our members, we hope that you give serious consideration to this issue.
We cannot emphasize enough that the primary purpose of charitable bingo is to allow volunteers to raise money for charitable purposes for their community.
Charities and non-profits cannot and should not be treated the same as purely commercial businesses.
Sincerely,
Lynn Cassidy Executive Director
*************************************************************** You tell us
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