The Alberta Liberals are taking up the cause of a St. Albert woman who is asking the province to be more transparent about gambling revenue.
Party finance critic Hugh MacDonald joined Giselle Jubinville, a former video lottery terminal addict, at a news conference Thursday to draw attention to what they believe are deceptive accounting tactics the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) uses to hide the truth about gambling.
At issue are the numbers the AGLC uses to report gaming revenue from slot machines and VLTs. The AGLC reports their numbers using the total of credits played and earned, a switch from earlier reporting that more basically reported simply the cash in and cash out of the machines.
In practical terms, this means while the agency reported having $7.3 billion in credits played with $6.7 billion in credits earned in its annual report, they actually took $2 billion in cash and paid out $1.4 billion in prizes.
MacDonald and Jubinville argue the accounting change gives a misleading impression about the rate at which the machines pay out. AGLC reports the machines have a 92-per-cent payout rate, which corresponds to the credit number, but the cash out numbers show a payout rate closer to 70 per cent.
“They inflated their revenue figures with this new accounting system and hid from the taxpayer and the people who frequent casinos the true percentage they are taking,” said MacDonald.
Jubinville said her gambling addiction might have gone differently if she had known what the machines were truly doing.
“I have the right to information to make an informed choice.”
Jubinville initially brought her questions to local MLA Ken Allred who raised the concerns when the AGLC board appeared before the public accounts committee in late November.
The AGLC promised then to provide the cash in and cash out numbers, based on Allred’s questions, and MacDonald, as chair of the committee, received them in January.
The AGLC initially told MacDonald they didn’t have those numbers, but when he responded to the board saying failing to answer the questions could be viewed as contempt of the legislature, they provided the figures.
Allred said his concern is mostly with the 92-per-cent figure the board provides to gamblers.
“That is deceptive in my mind and that is the word that I used initially at the public accounts and I still think it is.”
He said anyone who would talk about their winnings and losses while gambling would talk about the cash they had lost.
“You go home to your wife and say I lost $20 today, you don’t go home and say I lost $40 because of all the little prizes you won.”
Allred said he will push for the AGLC to report their revenues using both figures in their annual reports, as well as pushing for them to stop using the 92-per-cent figure.
“It is deceptive and I think they need to report it both ways, or at least in the reporting of the payout they need to explain it a little more clearly.”
MacDonald said in addition to pushing for more transparency in the figures, he would like to see changes in the design and function of the machines specifically aiming to slow them down.
“There are a number of things, but speed of play would certainly be a No. 1 issue with me.”
Jubinville said she would favour bold warnings on the machines, like with cigarette packaging.
Jody Korchinski, the AGLC’s director of communications, said the board made the accounting change in 1999 because the auditor general pointed out they were reporting the figures differently between slot machines and VLTs.
The credits-played approach was considered more reflective of the overall system.
“What the auditor said is we should be capturing each of the transactions.”
She said the payout rate is a consistent number and the machines are tested to ensure they are performing at that rate. She said the cash-out rate fluctuates depending on the player’s behaviour.
She said the AGLC has a lot of information about setting limits and responsible gambling on their website, but they don’t currently plan to put the payout rate on any of their literature on VLTs.
