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Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario, Canada) Record
No-smoking bylaw costing us thousands, charities say
Bingo receipts way down as smokers go elsewhere
Barbara Aggerholm
RECORD STAFF
January 28, 2000
Local charities that raise money by sponsoring bingo say they are losing
thousands of dollars because smokers have been banned from public bingo
halls.
They're worried that, if the trend continues to the end of the year, their programs
and services will have to be cut back, affecting many people in the community
who need help.
"It could be devastating to a number of our boys," said Keith Taylor,
executive director of Big Brothers Association of Cambridge.
"They've already gone through a loss at one time or another. All we'd be doing is
taking something away from them again.
"I'm going to be out there begging and borrowing."
Charities and bingo hall operators alike say the future looks dismal if the
Waterloo Region bylaw, which has banned smoking in all public places, including
bingo halls, since Jan. 1, does not change.
Many say they want a level playing field, a compromise that allows them to
keep their customers and continue doing good work. It's difficult to compete
when Guelph, for example, allows limited smoking in its bingo halls, operators
say.
Cambridge Bingo Centre and its 90 charities have lost more than $100,000 in
January alone due to Waterloo Regions no-smoking bylaw, said the centre's
president, Brian Gilmour.
Revenue is shared 60 per cent by charities and 40 per cent by the bingo hall
operator, he said. Expenses must be paid out of that money, such as licence fees
by the charity, and staff heat and hydro costs by the hall operator.
"We put out 135,000 flyers promoting a non-smoking bingo establishment
as of Jan. I," Gilmour said. Coupons were included to entice players,
smokers and non-smokers, to come. "I got 140 coupons back. Where are all those
non-smoking customers?" he asked. "I'm in a negative cash situation right now. I'm
not covering my expenses."
Kitchener's Bingo Country and its charities also lost more than $100,000
in 25 days, compared with the same time last year, said Lou Innocente,
Bingo Country district operators manager.
"Our attendance is down about 21 per cent," he said.
In 1998 alone, $6.2 million was raised for 224 charities through bingo in
Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, Innocente said. If losses continue at
the pace they are now, it could mean they lose $3.6 million by the end of
the year, he said, adding he plans to talk to regional councillors after he
sees the end-of-month figures.
"It could be higher."
Carol Ariss, secretary of the 90-charity Bingo Sponsors Association in
Cambridge, said her association is planning next month to show publicly
how charities are struggling.
"We have all been expecting a 40 to 50 per cent decrease in our revenue
this year," said Ariss, who is also executive director of Cambridge
Volunteer Bureau.
Many service clubs, for example, also get revenue from bingos, Ariss
said. And they give money back to the community -- to children's
baseball teams, to soccer, to the handicapped child who needs a
wheelchair.
"I don't think the public understands ... the ramifications of the bylaw,"
she said. "It affects the whole region."
Taylor, of Cambridge's Big Brothers, said he has budgeted for $32,000
to come from bingo revenues this year, compared with $45,000 to
$50,000 last year.
Big Brothers receives no government funding, he said. About 15 per cent
of its budget comes from United Way.
"Eighty-five per cent I have to raise, for which bingo is my No.1
fundraiser," Taylor said. "We've got to make up that money, and it will be
any way I can."
LaFerne Clarke, executive director of Big Sisters of Kitchener-Waterloo
and Area, said she's watching closely to see whether the charity loses 30
per cent of its bingo revenue, as has been predicted. That would
represent a whopping $10,000 loss for the year.
At the beginning of January, only 60 of the usual 120 people attended a
bingo sponsored by Big Sisters, she said. Later this month, the number
increased to 70 or 80 players.
"That's a drop in revenue and as a non-profit (organization), if there's a
drop in revenue for the year, we have to make it up somewhere," Clarke
said.
The decline in bingo revenue and the reasons for the no-smoking bylaw
pose a dilemma, she said.
"I can understand the health risks," Clarke said,
"On the other hand, there are social risks."
