Now I don't gamble! So this does not cover a personal story of a gambling problem.
My concern is the other side of gambling where organizations depend on funds from casinos.
When Alberta legalized gambling and casinos were set up, charitable organizations complained as it would kill the bingo cash cow. Therefore, the Alberta Govt. set up a system where groups needing funds could volunteer in the casino and receive funds for their efforts. It's a good deal for non profits as for two days of effort you receive $20 000 to $30 000. You only get a casino once every two years so it's popular and why not?
I am on the board of an organization which has a casino. Why there's a bee in my bonnet is because we've recently been working on two casino reports which we must complete. The first report is an accounting of what we have done with casino money. We have to keep a separate casino account. The people who want the report decided the period should be from part of 2009, all of 2010 and part of 2011. So we had to go through files from 3 different years...not fun! It doesn't make you happy when the report is returned and they want different information.
Now because we have an upcoming casino, we must file a detailed budget of what we are going to spend the money on and the approximate time it will be spent. Most organizations have one big item to spend their money on and it's done. We have many smaller and different events. One thing we do is present about 8 speakers a year. We really have to work to get the Alberta Liquor and Gaming Commission to accept speakers.
So the two days of working at the casino are a piece of cake. The book work is a pain in the butt. You are limited in what the money can be spent on. It would be easier if you could spend the money on any of your groups on going activities.
Organizations have become dependent on casino funds. Your group is put in a schedule for a casino date. Other fund raising activities have become less lucrative so we work hard at participating in casinos.
So guess what? I will continue working to raise income from casinos???
