No one will ever win an argument over whether it is appropriate to use gaming money – the losses borne by gamblers – to fund non-profit agencies, community programs and sports organizations.

But it’s shocking how much we have come to depend on such losses for the multitude of services we often take for granted.

Last year, for example, nearly $658 million from gaming revenues was sucked into provincial government coffers to be re-distributed.

Most people will say it is better to have the government running gambling operations rather than crooks, loan sharks and bookies.

And why shouldn’t the profits be used to benefit good causes?

But last week’s cuts to gaming grants has raised a lot of questions about how reliant we’ve becoming on the cash generated by gambling.

Skeptics could say, and quite rightly, that gaming money has long been a government slush fund and it is free to use it to ease the tax bite or sprinkle it about as it chooses. Some might even say the Gordon Campbell government has done a good job in streamlining grant applications so community groups don’t have to run bingo nights anymore, and has also strengthened support for problem gamblers by providing money for addiction programs. The B.C. Liberals have also established priorities to make sure only worthy projects get the money.

But there is a dark side to this largesse, as many arts groups figured out last week. There is no certainty to this money, there never has been. The government is free to make decisions about how to allocate these funds – or not. The decision to stop funding playgrounds and go back to yearly funding contracts is just one example.

Recently, the public learned the BC Lottery Corp. will raise the weekly limit on its Play Now Internet gambling website from $120 to $10,000. Gamblers are grown-ups, the reasoning goes, and should be able to decide how much they wish to spend/lose.

The question is, just how far are willing to go with our addiction to gaming money?

– The Tri-City News