REGINA - As expected the provincial government has brought in legislation to create a new Crown corporation dedicated to oversee gaming policy and management in the province.
The government is creating Lotteries and Gaming Saskatchewan, splitting off the lotteries and gaming function from the activities of Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority.
The province states in a release that the new model will “improve cohesiveness, consistency and transparency of the sector while eliminating overlap in regulatory and gaming management roles.” The plan is for the new Crown corporation to oversee all casinos, VLTs, online gaming, and lotteries in Saskatchewan and also lead the province’s gaming strategy and the Gaming Framework Agreement.
"Right now SLGA is responsible for all things liquor and gaming. The purpose of this is to separate out the operations and regulatory function in a matter consistent with what’s taking place in other provinces," Crown Investments Corporation Minister Don Morgan said to reporters.
"SLGA will be the regulatory role and they will be responsible for issuing the licenses, maintaining compliance; and the other side, the operating side will be the new entity. And that will be for things like lotteries, lottery tickets, gaming, and the relationship with SIGA (Sask. Indian Gaming Authority) on gaming and gambling.”
Minister Morgan further explained the rationale behind the move.
“It was challenging to have the same entity regulating and being an operator. In some cases there was perceived, and in some cases probably real conflict because they were regulating the casinos as well as the government casinos. They were the overseers of the First Nations ones, so it was a right thing to do.”
He noted the issue was raised when the province went through the process of setting up the E-gaming that is now taking place in the province, that there should be an operating and a regulatory role.
The plans to create the new Lotteries and Gaming Saskatchewan had previously been announced in the fall session, around the same time that the province had announced that SLGA would commence the process to divest itself of its remaining 34 publicly owned liquor stores. The closure of those stores and the auctions for new private liquor store permits has now been completed.
Regarding liquor wholesaling, that function will stay with SLGA; Morgan said that it’s a historic model that has been working well.
“You don’t have to have the same kind of oversight model for sales of liquor because you only have one entity that’s doing it, you’re not dealing with six entities that’s dealing with wholesale,” he added.
Morgan also reiterated there is “no intention” of any selloffs, and emphasized that the beneficiaries of lotteries or gaming funds will see no changes either.
The legislation introduced Thursday continues the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation (SaskGaming) as a wholly-owned subsidiary as of June 1 and retains its board structure; it also retains a number of funding arrangements including obligations to First Nations Trust, the Métis Development Fund, and the Community Initiatives Fund and to the Lotteries Trust Fund Account. The legislation is to take effect retroactively to April 1 once it is passed.
