A three year battle boiled over this week with a city councillor alleging the B.C. Lottery 
Corporation is taking more than its fair share of the pot.Coun. Barry 
Beardsell said the city may have lost up to $380,000 because of a sudden rise in expenditures at the local casino.“Without any consultation with the City of Vernon that additional $3.8 million appeared, that in effect cuts out $380,000 to the City of Vernon out of casino sharing,” he said.Under the B.C. Lottery Corporation’s agreement with individual casinos, three per cent of revenue from table games and slot machines is placed into a trust fund.
Corporation is taking more than its fair share of the pot.Coun. Barry 
Beardsell said the city may have lost up to $380,000 because of a sudden rise in expenditures at the local casino.“Without any consultation with the City of Vernon that additional $3.8 million appeared, that in effect cuts out $380,000 to the City of Vernon out of casino sharing,” he said.Under the B.C. Lottery Corporation’s agreement with individual casinos, three per cent of revenue from table games and slot machines is placed into a trust fund. Money can only be removed from the account to pay for facility upgrades approved by the lottery corporation.Beardsell said that the money taken from the account has gone from $2.8 million in 2004 to $6.6 million. The expenses have likely reduced the casino’s profits and nibbled away at the city’s 10 per cent share of the proceeds, he said.“I would like to know what improvements there were,” he said. “I know they may have been improvements (to the casino) in the City of Penticton.”
The Lottery Corporation, however, is questioning Beardsell’s math. Expenditures have no effect on the city’s share of gambling revenues, according to Mike Wolfram, the corporation’s gaming finance director.“The 10 per cent revenue that the city gets is not tied at all to facility development expenditures,” Wolfram said. “It’s based on the casino’s net winnings.”However, Beardsell said the city’s share is tied to expenditures. “How (Wolfram) can say that, I don’t know,” Beardsell said. “I can’t believe that the money that is taken does not affect the city.”
In November of 2004 city council requested a legal opinion on whether they could challenge the corporation’s right to charge a three per cent development fee. Beardsell said the matter may go before the courts if the province fails to respond to the city’s concerns.“Council will have to look at it to decide whether to dig our heels in,” he said.The issue is one of about 14 different requests Okanagan-Vernon MLA Tom Christensen is pursuing on the city’s behalf. “I’m trying hard to get the answers they’re looking for,” he said. “Part of it is the city is looking for the corporation to report information in a way the corporation doesn’t report.”
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