Title
Casino Proceeds Revenue Sharing Fairness within
Greater Langley
Recommended Action
Whereas in fiscal 2017-2018 municipalities within British Columbia received $102M from casino and gaming revenue, with $72.1M of that within the Lower Mainland, and $7.69M just to the City of Langley alone, with a population of only 25,888 (c.2016);
Whereas in fiscal 2017-2018 the City of Richmond alone received $17M in casino proceeds, with a population of only 198,309 (c.2016), as Langley City, Surrey, Abbotsford and Maple Ridge (and even Mission and Chilliwack) all continue to receive casino or gaming revenue each year, while the Township of Langley, the region's
6th largest municipality, does not;
Whereas the Township of Langley, City of Delta, District of North Vancouver, City of North Vancouver, District of West Vancouver,
City of Port Coquitlam, City of Port Moody, City of White Rock, and the City of Pitt Meadows all also continue to not receive any annual casino or gaming revenue, even with combined populations of over 525,000 taxpaying residents (c.2016);
Whereas the elementary principle of basic fairness should apply to the distribution of regional casino and gaming proceeds inclusive of all regional municipalities and their respective populations and taxpayers;
Whereas gambling within the region as a whole imposes social and municipal costs upon all municipalities within reasonable proximity to casino and gaming locations; and
Whereas it is inherently unfair that only some municipalities receive (in some cases many) millions of dollars in casino and gaming proceeds obviously attributable to residents of adjacent (and often much larger) municipalities, while other regional municipalities (possibly even less than 1km away from a casino) and their taxpaying residents receive absolutely nothing at all;
Therefore be it resolved that staff be directed to:
(a) if deemed necessary and achievable, recommend a qualified consultant to study and provide estimat...
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