Most unfamiliar with Community Gaming Centre concept: study

By Jennifer Feinberg - Chilliwack Progress - May 13, 2008

Slot machines are being eyed for a Chilliwack 'community gaming centre.'

Black Press

Chilliwack residents may not be ready to embrace a gambling concept they don’t fully understand.

When polled back in March about the term “Community Gaming Centre” more than half of those asked, or 57 per cent, said they were “completely unfamiliar” with it.

Only four in 10 people who responded said they’d heard of it, and an even smaller percentage, five per cent, expressed a high level of familiarity with the concept.

The Community Issues Survey 2008 by Sensus Research of Vancouver was commissioned by the City of Chilliwack to gauge community opinion about gaming and the “conversion” of the bingo hall into a community gaming centre (CGC) with slot machines as well as bingo and other games.

Opinion was almost evenly split down the middle over the two possibilities the pollsters touched on, either the transformation of the local bingo hall into a CGC (46 per cent opposed) or the idea of opening a destination casino in Chilliwack (47 per cent).

Those fresh statistics, which illustrate the generally divisive nature of the topic, didn’t surprise either Mayor Hames or Coun. Sharon Gaetz when they came out Friday.

“I think the results of the survey are not surprising. This issue is very divisive for any community,” said Hames.

The communities of Langley and Abbotsford also saw similar levels of divided opinion when they broached the idea of bingo hall expansion to incorporate slot machines and other games in their cities, Gaetz pointed out.

“It seems like opinion here at home was split down the middle,” she said. “That’s the way it’s been in other Fraser Valley communities as well. It says to me that it’s worth talking about, and worth finding a way to bring the community together on this.”

The study found “there is a strong correlation” between respondents’ past gambling behaviour, familiarity with the gaming centre concept and their stand on the local bingo hall conversion.

“Residents who have engaged in gambling activities in the past 12 months are much more likely to support the conversion than those who haven’t,” reads the study results.

As well it indicates that familiarity with the CGC concept in general “has a sizeable impact” on the level of support for the new idea.

“This is a particularly important finding given that more than half of the sample is entirely unfamiliar with the concept (of a gaming centre),” according to the study.

Although there has been no formal proposal submitted yet from Chilliwack Bingo, city officials realized months ago they were going to need to know where the community stood on gaming, and so the opinion survey was subsequently commissioned, according to Mayor Hames.

“I think the survey will help to inform discussion, as will the application for a CGC,” he said.

More information may be needed to get everyone on the same page, Hames said.

“We are trying to ensure that Council has as much information as possible so that they can make an informed decision.

“However, the first decision will be how to proceed. As I have said, Council will have to determine what decision-making framework it will use.”

There are strong feelings on both sides of the issue, as well as many who are ambivalent, said Gaetz.

Opponents of the bingo expansion idea tend “know someone who was severely impacted or became addicted” to gambling, she added.

“Those are the concerns that need to be addressed,” Gaetz said. “If we proceed with this, people need to know for sure there will be safeguards against problem gambling and what they will be.”

Those who said they were in favour of the transformation in the city most often cited the revenue streams it would generate, and the financial stability, while those opposed were most likely to mention the detrimental effects, “more crime, alcohol and drug problems” coming into the community.”

Keep in mind it’s not city council advocating a move to transform Chilliwack Bingo into a gaming centre, the councillor underlined.

“It’s other agencies pushing for this,” she said. “But I think the people of Chilliwack are wise. They’ll weigh the issue, sort it out, then they’ll tell us what they want.”

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Most unfamiliar with Community Gaming Centre concept: study

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