The Camrose Casino has been approved to relocate to Southwest Edmonton
The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) has approved the application for Camrose Casino to relocate to southwest Edmonton. The AGLC stated that this relocation will support businesses, create jobs, and have minimal impact on charities supported by Edmonton casinos. This casino would continue to be linked to the Camrose and St. Albert casino regions and will likely generate much higher charitable revenues compared to its current Camrose location.
It is important to note that this approval is conditional on all approval requirements (along with all federal and provincial legislation, regulations, policies and municipal requirements, permits, licenses, and authorizations) being met following construction.
Although this relocation will benefit rural charities in the Camrose and St. Albert regions, it is does not address the broader inequities within the charitable gaming model. The rural/urban funding gap is by no means solved by this relocation, seeing as hundreds of charitable groups across the province will see no benefit from this decision.
In the coming weeks, the RMA will launch a campaign calling for a review of the charitable gaming model, with the goal of replacing the current inequitable charitable gaming model with a model that provides equal support for equal work to all eligible organizations, regardless of where in the province they are located. This campaign will include a report that will update the data and recommendations found in the RMA Charitable Gaming Committee Final Report, which was released in 2019.
Kallie Wischoff
Policy Advisor
855.319.2245
kallie@RMAlberta.com
Wyatt Skovron
General Manager of Policy & Advocacy
780.955.4096
wyatt@RMAlberta.com