Bingo news
No Fee Cuts for the Lindsay Bingo Charities Association
On February 19, 2007, the petition by the Lindsay Bingo Association to the city's Community and Emergency Services Committee to give them a reduction on their licensing fees was not approved by the committee. Peter Lindsay, the head of the association, petitioned the committee January 17, 2007, requesting for their licensing fee to be reduced from the 3% of the prizes that are offered to just 1% from March 1st to December 31st.
The committee has requested a study on the matter. The licensing officer who made the report, Don Abel, said that the committee has already granted about $39,419.50, but so far there have been no recognizable effects of the license cuts that the committee has given the association.
Abel added that the disinterest by the playing public and the fall in attendance is a problem that will continue to exist and that the cuts the committee gave the association has no effect in raising the revenues of the bingo halls.
The council gave the bingo association a 1% reduction in the licensing fees from December 31, 2005 up to May 31, 2006. It granted around a 2% reduction to the association from October 1st up to December 31, 2006. About 254 charities are the beneficiaries of the bingo hall.
About 70% of the revenues that the game of bingo makes go to the charities and the remaining 30% go to the Lindsay Bingo Bingo Inc. The committee has also said that the interim profit model of the bingo hall should be reevaluated.
Mr. Abel also further stated that the Alcohol and Gaming Commission in Ontario is drafting a plan to make a profit model that will be applicable in all of the bingo halls in the province of Ontario. It is expected to be completed on May 1, 2007.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Steve Bowen