You may have heard that the 2019 BC Budget provided details on Government’s plan to share a portion of Gaming revenue with First Nations. This new agreement will not impact current Community Gaming Grant funding.
Here are the summary bullets on the new funding agreement, and the official news releases are below.
In 2017-18, the B.C. government collected $1.391 billion in net revenue from gaming activities.
- Currently, 31% of total provincial gaming revenue is distributed to fund a Health Special Account, community gaming grants and host local governments. This will remain unchanged, and an additional 7% will be distributed to the First Nations new limited partnership. The remainder will continue to go into the Province’s general revenues.
- Funding will be distributed to communities based on the following formula, developed by the First Nations Gaming Commission in consultation with First Nations:
- 50% base funding (divided equally among partnered First Nations, including modern Treaty Nations, in B.C.);
- 40% based on population, and
- 10% for geographically remote communities.
The news release:
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019FIN0019-000249
A link to the web page:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/indigenous-people/first-nation-gaming-revenue-sharing
