British Columbia Lottery Corporation virtually connects with the gambling enthusiast across the province with the help of its online gaming platform. Kamloops officials want to see the online betting revenue distributed evenly across the province of British Columbia now that brick-and-mortar casino venues are not welcoming patrons on a daily basis. Coun. Arjun Singh was the first to talk on the subject.
Gaming enthusiasts across the province are currently exploring the vast online space of gaming products and enjoying the popular lottery and online casino products available. PlayNow.com is the online gaming platform powered by British Columbia Lottery Corporation welcoming individuals on a daily basis. Kamloops officials consider it appropriate if the platform allocates a percentage of its gaming revenue to the municipalities.
Online Gaming Support
Coun. Singh made it clear that he has insider information regarding the gaming revenue currently generated by the online gaming platform. He pointed out that an employee of the Crown corporation has informed him that online gaming revenue has surged since the closure of brick-and-mortar casino venues and gaming halls across the province. Municipalities could benefit from a revenue allocation down the road.
Kamloops is one of the areas typically benefitting from brick-and-mortar casino gaming revenue, as Cascades Casino Kamloops and Chances Casino Kamloops welcome patrons with their diverse portfolio. Now that the two complexes are closed for business, online gaming could support Kamloops’ larger projects, infrastructural projects, as well as beautification work around the area.
The upcoming four months are expected to bring loss of about CA$2 million now that the two casinos are closed for business. Kamloops usually receives 10 percent of the gaming revenue on an annual basis. Coun. Singh wants to see online gaming revenue allocation making its way to Kamloops’ city coffers down the road. The location of each player could be tracked in real-time, giving more information on their residence.
Projects Deferred
Mayor Ken Christian listened carefully to the arguments in support of this decision and replied that the possibility would be further explored in the upcoming weeks. As of this week, he was uncertain about the way online gaming revenue is being distributed among British Columbia municipalities. This week’s meeting of the Kamloops city council also talked about the ways in which casino cash would support the community.
Large local projects supported by casino money would have to be postponed to a later date. Some of those are the second construction phase of McArthur Island community park, infrastructural work on Victoria Street, as well as work related to the museum facility. The CA$2 million in casino cash was also supposed to support renovation work on the Old Courthouse, in addition to the purchase of accessibility mats for larger public events.
Now the focus is on online gambling revenue and the ways in which it could be redirected to the municipalities that could benefit from it. Kamloops’ local projects are stalled because of the reduced land-based gaming revenue. In a period of social distancing, the return of brick-and-mortar casinos is projected to be a slower process requiring preparation.
