Few things unite synchronized swimmers and lacrosse players with scout troops, hockey teams, food banks and Meals-on-Wheels volunteers.

One that does is a dependence on government grants that normally flow from the profits on gambling through B.C.'s casinos and lotteries.

A diverse collection of 6,000 charitable groups that range all over B.C.'s social and cultural fabric are now watching anxiously to see if they will lose funding.

They include arts organizations like symphonies, many school sports groups and parent advisory committees, as well as groups specializing in search and rescue, environmental improvement and animal rescue.

The gaming grants are on the chopping block as Victoria grapples with a deficit some forecasts peg as high as $4 billion.

The province warned in August some grants may be reduced this year due to sharply falling provincial revenues.

And word began to trickle out Friday that some arts groups face deep cuts.

"Everybody is in shock," said Susan Marsden, president of the B.C. Association for Charitable Gaming, which represents charities receiving gaming funds.

Funding for some groups, which are in the second year of three-year grants, have been cancelled entirely.

"This is longstanding consistent funding we've all built our organizations around," Marsden said, adding the association is seeking advice on potential legal action.

She said lost grants may mean cancelled programs at local museums, for example, and she's aware of at least two organizations that have closed their doors.

"There's no fat to be cut," she said. "So if you're going to cut people you're going to cut programs."

Marsden said a network of impacted groups is now beginning to coalesce as affected charities contemplate more political action.

"Everybody has been assuming that if you operated with the government in a civil manner, in the end it's the best route," she said. "As of Friday, that changed."

Marsden wouldn't say what type of protests or pressure tactics she's heard discussed.

"There are a lot of ideas," she said, noting the Olympics are coming.

She said many groups also feel betrayed because they've worked hard to help meet the province's sometimes controversial goal of adding more community gaming centres – which bring more slot machines into local neighbourhoods.

A statement from the province's housing and social development ministry says the government "is fully supporting some of the highest priority organizations."

Priority is to go to programs geared to: low-income people and the disabled; provision of food, shelter and support; community health services; school nutrition for underprivileged children; public safety; community education such as daycares and preschools; community facilities such as halls and recreation facilities; youth and disabled sports; and non-sport youth groups like scouts and cadets.

Public safety organizations and parent advisory committees are considered in the next quarter and may not find out their funding levels until late November.

A further wave comes next March, when charities affiliated with bingo halls – including many service clubs – find out what they get.

The amount of money at stake for charities is large.

The BC Lottery Corp. paid out $77 million to groups in the Lower Mainland in 2007/08, nearly half of the provincial total.

Vancouver-based groups got $29 million.

Groups in Surrey got $8.8 million, while $6.4 million was delivered in Burnaby, $4.1 million in Abbotsford, $3.5 million in Richmond, $3.5 million in Langley and $2.9 million in North Vancouver.

The list of recipient organizations in Surrey includes school parent advisory committees (PACs) and a wide variety of clubs and service groups.

Besides dozens of PACs, the groups in Surrey that received grants in 2007/08 include the Fraser Valley Heritage Raliway Society, the Phoenix Drug and Alcohol Recovery Society and the Lower Mainland Down Syndrome Society.

The BCLC heavily promotes the grants as part of the benefits gambling delivers to communities, using the slogan "When you play, good things happen."

To see which groups in your community received grants in the most recent year for which data is available (2007/08) see http://www.bclc.com/cm/wherethemoneygoes/supportingcommunities.htm

• B.C.-wide: Total $145,202,295.74

• Lower Mainland: Total $77,080,944.58

• Aldergrove Direct Access: Total $362,760.01

Alder Grove Heritage Society: $20,000.00

Aldergrove Agricultural Association: $12,000.00

Aldergrove Community Secondary School PAC: $21,440.00

Aldergrove Elementary PAC: $4,160.00

Aldergrove Lions Seniors Housing Society DBA Jackman Manor: $10,000.00

• Aldergrove from Langley Bingo Palace: Total $70,000.01

Aldergrove Figure Skating Club: $25,000.01

Aldergrove Minor Hockey Association: $45,000.00