Alberta charities will have fewer restrictions around proceeds from gaming, gambling events

Alberta is changing the regulations that govern fundraisers involving casino events or raffles to allow charities to earn more.

The province announced that Alberta charities will be able to keep more money from charitable gaming and gambling events without Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) approval.

Dale Nally, the minister of Service Alberta and red tape reduction, said Monday the province has eliminated 60 per cent of rules around charitable gaming and how funds can be spent.

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Charitable gaming activities include, raffles, pull tickets, bingo and casino events. In 2024, more than 23,000 charities in the province participated in those types of events.

In 2023 and 2024, charity organizations earned more than $409 million through charitable gaming events, with $79 million raised by the host First Nations charities.

Beginning April 1, charities will be able to do these things without AGLC approval:

• Keep up to $50,000 in profits (previous limit was $10,000);
• Use $100,000 of gaming proceeds to conduct community events;
• Use up to $100,000 for facility renovations and leasehold improvements (previous limit was $50,000);

The approvals for travel have also been eliminated and the limit for administrative expense was increased from 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

“The updates essentially shift the focus of AGLC policy to the types of activities and programming a charity can spend its gaming revenue on, rather than the type of organization that’s doing the spending,” Nally said.

As an example, Nally said previously the Morinville Legion would have been able to use proceeds from a gaming event to buy dinner for the people at the announcement, but not for Legion’s members.

Now, that restriction is gone.

Nally said that this is a start and while there isn’t a plan to remove all rules and restrictions around how charities can spend their funds, the province is open to talking to groups about modifying more rules in the future.

Alberta is the only Canadian province that licenses charities to hold and manage casino events that support charitable organizations.