1 00:00:00,106 --> 00:00:09,001 If you honestly don't understand the nuances of it, working with government is challenging and they're quite particular about how they want to do things and also not terribly 2 00:00:09,001 --> 00:00:09,511 forgiving. 3 00:00:09,511 --> 00:00:15,394 When you're dealing with AGLC, like any government organization, they have a structured way of doing things. 4 00:00:15,394 --> 00:00:22,498 If you do not respond to their, within their structure and meet their deadlines, you could lose your event. 5 00:00:26,190 --> 00:00:33,070 There are more than a few things you need to keep in mind when you're dealing with the Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis Commission, or AGLC. 6 00:00:33,070 --> 00:00:40,750 That's who charities have to work with from day one, from when they decide to apply for a license for a casino, all the way up to their events. 7 00:00:40,750 --> 00:00:49,290 There's a reason why having a casino advisor is a requirement, to make sure the charities are doing everything they're supposed to, when they're supposed to. 8 00:00:49,290 --> 00:00:52,966 Because if they don't, that's money they're leaving on the table. 9 00:00:53,954 --> 00:00:55,776 This is Raising the Stakes. 10 00:00:55,776 --> 00:01:02,245 It's a podcast about the role casino advisors play in helping charities pull off the perfect casino fundraiser event. 11 00:01:02,245 --> 00:01:07,931 Because a charity's ability to help their communities might depend on just making it to the tables. 12 00:01:07,992 --> 00:01:13,288 There's a long road to get there, and when it comes to casino events, there's no room for error. 13 00:01:19,758 --> 00:01:27,078 Well, the rules are always changing from an AGLC's perspective, so yes, yes, there's lots that could happen to make it more difficult. 14 00:01:27,078 --> 00:01:30,378 Jeffrey Dawson has been a casino advisor since 2011. 15 00:01:30,378 --> 00:01:38,778 He's the owner and operator of Alberta Casino Advisors, Incorporated, and he's here to demystify the AGLC. 16 00:01:38,998 --> 00:01:47,413 If you listen to what Jeff says, if you get your paperwork handed in on time and you plan properly for the event, it'll go off without a hitch. 17 00:01:47,413 --> 00:01:55,718 It's a relatively straightforward process, but there are places where charities might still make mistakes, and there are consequences to that. 18 00:01:55,718 --> 00:02:04,904 Last time on Raising the Stakes, we spoke to members of three different charitable groups in Alberta about the work they do for their communities and how much of that is made 19 00:02:04,904 --> 00:02:06,715 possible by the casinos. 20 00:02:06,715 --> 00:02:12,568 cannot begin to tell you how giving our communities are and how giving the people in our communities are. 21 00:02:12,568 --> 00:02:13,939 That's Mark Forney. 22 00:02:13,939 --> 00:02:17,471 Treasurer of Wildrose Humane Society, an animal shelter. 23 00:02:17,471 --> 00:02:26,446 We do rely upon that to keep the shelter open, but the top up for the veterinary costs, that's almost exclusively done through the casinos. 24 00:02:26,446 --> 00:02:31,669 Their vet costs are the largest they have, so that's a big compliment to the casino system. 25 00:02:31,669 --> 00:02:35,431 But it's also something of an unsteady tightrope the charities need to walk. 26 00:02:35,431 --> 00:02:36,755 Well, and that's the problem. 27 00:02:36,755 --> 00:02:42,074 And I mean, as we move forward, and especially under this particular government, things are going to change again. 28 00:02:42,074 --> 00:02:43,265 That's Sean Fraser. 29 00:02:43,265 --> 00:02:46,247 He's the executive director of the Evergreen Theatre Society. 30 00:02:46,247 --> 00:02:49,010 He's been doing casinos for a long time. 31 00:02:49,010 --> 00:02:52,623 It's a steady source of their funding and what they need to do to survive. 32 00:02:52,623 --> 00:02:55,055 But it's not without its share of challenges. 33 00:02:55,055 --> 00:03:01,961 So one of the big first things that hurt casinos many years ago was when smoking was banned inside. 34 00:03:01,961 --> 00:03:04,543 That really hurt casino revenues. 35 00:03:04,543 --> 00:03:12,649 Back in the day, and this is about, I don't know, 10, 15 years ago, we were doing a casino every 36 00:03:12,845 --> 00:03:20,505 10 to 12 months and a casino would yield an organization around $100,000, $105,000. 37 00:03:20,505 --> 00:03:30,305 We now are doing a casino about every 18 months and we get around $60,000. 38 00:03:30,305 --> 00:03:38,185 When that's a large part of your revenue, know, $40,000, $50,000 reduction, it's hard. 39 00:03:38,185 --> 00:03:41,889 So it's all the more important that everything goes smoothly for them. 40 00:03:41,889 --> 00:03:52,265 I've had many people who volunteered several times and then they become a chairperson and they didn't realize all the paperwork and all the poops and stuff that they have to go 41 00:03:52,265 --> 00:03:53,845 through with AGLC. 42 00:03:53,845 --> 00:03:56,097 We'll let Jeff take you through the steps. 43 00:03:56,097 --> 00:04:02,780 For one, to be eligible, the organization must be a charitable organization. 44 00:04:02,780 --> 00:04:05,362 They don't have to be licensed charity. 45 00:04:05,362 --> 00:04:09,304 They just have to be not in the business to make money. 46 00:04:09,304 --> 00:04:11,885 Then they have to be in 47 00:04:11,885 --> 00:04:18,425 existence for a minimum of two years before they can apply to AGLC to run a casino event. 48 00:04:18,425 --> 00:04:32,105 And so the AGLC will assign you to a region, depending on which region you're assigned to, the waiting period after you get approved is can be as long as three years and as short as 49 00:04:32,105 --> 00:04:34,985 about 18 months to get your first casino. 50 00:04:34,985 --> 00:04:40,749 So you have to be in existence for two years, six months of processing, a minimum 18 months of 51 00:04:40,749 --> 00:04:45,991 of waiting, so it's about four years after you organize before you can get your first casino event. 52 00:04:46,091 --> 00:04:48,792 Four whole years. 53 00:04:48,792 --> 00:04:54,975 While the time it takes might seem like a huge deterrent to charities, it's still their best bet. 54 00:04:54,975 --> 00:04:56,496 They just have to ride it out. 55 00:04:56,496 --> 00:04:59,257 But it's toughest for those who are just getting started. 56 00:04:59,257 --> 00:05:02,418 It does get easier the more casino events you do. 57 00:05:02,418 --> 00:05:09,417 And a good casino advisor is there to make everything as painless as possible, taking all of the worry out of it. 58 00:05:09,417 --> 00:05:13,960 even the casino events that haven't happened yet by getting a jump on them right away. 59 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:18,804 cannot apply for your next event until the current event is filled. 60 00:05:18,804 --> 00:05:26,910 We actually have an automated system where we upload in our system and literally one second after the event is completed, it's filed for the next one. 61 00:05:26,910 --> 00:05:29,651 At this point, we're on a little bit of a cycle. 62 00:05:29,651 --> 00:05:35,556 That's Terri Lee Ropchin, executive director of the Central Alberta Crime Prevention Centre. 63 00:05:35,556 --> 00:05:37,707 So that first time, 64 00:05:37,774 --> 00:05:41,294 You don't know, you're a little bit like nervous, will we get it? 65 00:05:41,294 --> 00:05:43,294 All the questions, right? 66 00:05:43,294 --> 00:05:48,774 But then afterwards, after you've been through one, you send in the next application. 67 00:05:48,914 --> 00:05:53,514 And Jeff is always good at reminding everybody and making sure those get in. 68 00:05:53,514 --> 00:06:00,574 Once you're in, making sure your reports are up to date, because we do have to report to the Alberta government every single year. 69 00:06:00,574 --> 00:06:05,922 And they're very meticulous that here's how much money was exactly in the account last time we talked to you. 70 00:06:05,922 --> 00:06:10,926 tell us exactly where every dime came from and where every other dime went. 71 00:06:10,926 --> 00:06:17,790 As long as you keep up on that and work with the nice people at the AGLC, it's actually a pretty, pretty painless process. 72 00:06:17,790 --> 00:06:26,977 When they send out the information to the charity that they have those two dates in that particular casino, they send a whole bunch of forms and they tell them what they have to 73 00:06:26,977 --> 00:06:31,150 do as far as process, but they don't give really much guidance. 74 00:06:31,150 --> 00:06:33,181 They rely on the advisors to do that. 75 00:06:33,181 --> 00:06:34,466 So it's important. 76 00:06:34,466 --> 00:06:43,232 to make sure you get assistance from day one from an organization that understands how the paperwork needs to be done so you can get to your event and get the proceeds. 77 00:06:43,232 --> 00:06:48,716 Jeff also helps charities with the ins and outs of the GAIN program that the AGLC offers. 78 00:06:48,716 --> 00:06:52,204 It's short for Gaming Information for Charitable Groups. 79 00:06:52,204 --> 00:07:01,958 They're resource that provides charities crucial training and information about things like eligibility requirements, allowable use of proceeds and submitting financial reports. 80 00:07:01,958 --> 00:07:04,829 People just think maybe it's a grant, but it isn't. 81 00:07:04,829 --> 00:07:06,680 It comes with some stipulations. 82 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:12,512 I'd say that AGLC has done a very good job in recent years of really 83 00:07:12,512 --> 00:07:16,744 streamlining some of the things that are common to all groups. 84 00:07:16,744 --> 00:07:20,356 If you have a team of people that have been doing them for a while, then it's not as big an issue. 85 00:07:20,356 --> 00:07:29,071 Where I would imagine it would be a little more complex is when you're having mostly volunteer run or parent run organizations because they've never really weighed it in to 86 00:07:29,071 --> 00:07:30,282 those kind of things before. 87 00:07:30,282 --> 00:07:32,413 And so it's kind of all new for them. 88 00:07:32,413 --> 00:07:34,064 So it can be a little more complicated. 89 00:07:34,064 --> 00:07:41,698 And I imagine that's where Jeff's team is needing to be a little more involved or a little more, you know, 90 00:07:41,708 --> 00:07:43,129 guiding them through that process. 91 00:07:43,129 --> 00:07:48,203 Because if you honestly don't understand the nuances of it, working with government is challenging, right? 92 00:07:48,203 --> 00:07:54,098 And so, and they're quite particular about how they want to do things and also not terribly forgiving. 93 00:07:54,098 --> 00:08:02,914 The very first one that I did, I was fundraiser for an organization and they're like, yeah, and so you have to do that. 94 00:08:03,518 --> 00:08:06,858 And I was like, I'm not sure how. 95 00:08:07,162 --> 00:08:13,284 And at that point, we were working with a different casino host and they were not helpful in that process. 96 00:08:13,284 --> 00:08:16,078 It was like, fill it out, send it in, that's on you. 97 00:08:16,078 --> 00:08:24,367 I think for those new ones that there's a lot of fear because you've got government forms coming at you, you've got deadlines, you've got to fill things in. 98 00:08:24,367 --> 00:08:28,648 Working with the government can be quite particular, especially with AGLC. 99 00:08:28,648 --> 00:08:32,729 They can also be somewhat intimidating if you're not used to it and quite specific. 100 00:08:32,729 --> 00:08:35,930 And so the thing is, is to make sure you get all of your 101 00:08:35,982 --> 00:08:39,302 I's dotted and T's crossed and all those things and don't miss deadlines. 102 00:08:39,302 --> 00:08:40,782 Deadlines are really important. 103 00:08:40,782 --> 00:08:42,942 Hey, louder for the people at the back. 104 00:08:42,942 --> 00:08:48,372 The entire process, whether you have a casino event at all, depends on deadlines. 105 00:08:48,372 --> 00:08:52,662 So some of the things that can go wrong is that it's not meeting deadlines. 106 00:08:52,662 --> 00:08:58,422 Over the years, we've helped groups and noticed that sometimes that they're filling the paperwork out incorrectly. 107 00:08:58,422 --> 00:09:02,702 They misunderstand what the government is looking for in their forms. 108 00:09:02,702 --> 00:09:05,762 So AGLC gets the paperwork and they say, okay. 109 00:09:05,762 --> 00:09:06,522 This is wrong. 110 00:09:06,522 --> 00:09:07,423 So they send it back. 111 00:09:07,423 --> 00:09:09,664 They email you and say, okay, your form is wrong. 112 00:09:09,664 --> 00:09:11,443 They'll give you like two days to fix it. 113 00:09:11,443 --> 00:09:14,986 If you don't look at your emails and fix it, you could lose your event. 114 00:09:14,986 --> 00:09:19,148 We just make sure that it's done very quickly, follows all the rules. 115 00:09:19,148 --> 00:09:20,959 So there's no kickback. 116 00:09:20,959 --> 00:09:23,770 So AGLC doesn't say, you filed this too early. 117 00:09:23,770 --> 00:09:25,061 So we have to redo it. 118 00:09:25,061 --> 00:09:27,112 And that just happened to groups. 119 00:09:27,112 --> 00:09:28,412 Then they have to file it again. 120 00:09:28,412 --> 00:09:29,833 And they're three months behind. 121 00:09:29,833 --> 00:09:32,514 Jeff mentioned that he has an automated system. 122 00:09:32,514 --> 00:09:36,335 to get charities started on the next casino as soon as possible. 123 00:09:36,335 --> 00:09:39,916 It's this kind of efficiency that makes it run like clockwork. 124 00:09:39,916 --> 00:09:44,567 And then there are other consequences than just not being able to have an event. 125 00:09:44,567 --> 00:09:51,589 The AGLC can issue fines or if worse comes to worst, could make future casino events a less than sure thing. 126 00:09:51,589 --> 00:10:01,966 There are organizations that I'm aware of that after they don't fill out the paperwork properly or maybe they intentionally make an error on the paperwork. 127 00:10:01,966 --> 00:10:03,546 They call that a way by. 128 00:10:03,546 --> 00:10:05,696 If you get caught, ATLC could fine you. 129 00:10:05,696 --> 00:10:09,606 They could also remove you from getting future casino events. 130 00:10:09,606 --> 00:10:15,056 Yeah, you get once you get booted out of the circuit, it's a long time before you get back in. 131 00:10:15,056 --> 00:10:16,786 It takes about six to eight years. 132 00:10:16,786 --> 00:10:18,666 So yeah, it can be quite serious. 133 00:10:18,666 --> 00:10:22,326 Jeff, keeping it simple is his number one priority. 134 00:10:22,326 --> 00:10:26,446 He's constantly making improvements to automate and keep the guesswork out of it. 135 00:10:26,446 --> 00:10:31,904 For the charities that do choose to work with Jeff, having a streamlined process that just works 136 00:10:31,904 --> 00:10:32,954 is important to them. 137 00:10:32,954 --> 00:10:35,816 This comes in the form of good organization. 138 00:10:35,816 --> 00:10:39,517 But also, Jeff works with a team, as he mentioned last episode. 139 00:10:39,517 --> 00:10:45,099 That comes in handy when everything and everyone you need is in the same place. 140 00:10:45,099 --> 00:10:46,940 So there's kind of two ways of going. 141 00:10:46,940 --> 00:10:52,096 You can hire individual advisors for different shifts and they're all sort of 142 00:10:52,096 --> 00:10:53,507 independent people. 143 00:10:53,507 --> 00:10:58,891 Or you can work with someone like Jeff, who is actually an organization that comes to the table. 144 00:10:58,891 --> 00:11:06,016 So he's a small business with the resources of people that can fill all the different advisor roles. 145 00:11:06,016 --> 00:11:11,200 another thing to note about Streamlining, Alberta Casino Advisors is incorporated. 146 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:15,303 For Jeff and the charities he works with, there's a lot of upside in doing this. 147 00:11:15,303 --> 00:11:19,832 I'm one of very few in the province that have what's called a gaming worker supplier license. 148 00:11:19,832 --> 00:11:25,794 My organization has gone through all the processes and the costs and the paperwork to get that license. 149 00:11:25,794 --> 00:11:28,135 And that way, the charity only has to write one check. 150 00:11:28,135 --> 00:11:29,534 They write it to the corporation. 151 00:11:29,534 --> 00:11:32,867 And then I distribute the checks between all the advisors. 152 00:11:32,867 --> 00:11:37,869 So, after all this, the paperwork might be done, but the work isn't over. 153 00:11:37,869 --> 00:11:42,031 We have to talk about maybe the most important part of this. 154 00:11:42,031 --> 00:11:43,652 Planning the event. 155 00:11:43,652 --> 00:11:45,913 Next time on Raising the Stakes. 156 00:11:45,913 --> 00:11:49,496 Volunteers can make or break a casino event, but of course, 157 00:11:49,496 --> 00:11:50,556 there are rules to follow. 158 00:11:50,556 --> 00:11:56,129 If the charity doesn't have sufficient volunteers, is not allowed to open. 159 00:11:56,129 --> 00:12:08,820 And because that charity has accepted the responsibility to be there for those two days, if they don't show up, technically the casino could seek financial recourse for not being 160 00:12:08,820 --> 00:12:09,975 able to open. 161 00:12:10,715 --> 00:12:12,806 there are lots at stake there. 162 00:12:12,806 --> 00:12:16,886 That's how important volunteers are in this whole structure. 163 00:12:16,886 --> 00:12:19,990 Find out how Jeff can help with the volunteer situation. 164 00:12:19,990 --> 00:12:22,153 There are 200 of them. 165 00:12:22,153 --> 00:12:26,898 They're on standby and he calls them Casino Angels. 166 00:12:29,228 --> 00:12:32,163 Another Everything Podcast production. 167 00:12:33,527 --> 00:12:38,216 Visit everythingpodcast.com, a division of Patterson Media. 168 00:12:38,216 --> 00:12:40,859 Subscribe wherever you get your podcast.