Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (or SLGA) is a Treasury Board Crown Corporation responsible for the distribution, control and regulation of alcoholic beverages and most gambling in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It runs the government monopoly on liquor sales and gambling in Saskatchewan. Its head office is in Regina. It distributes liquor to its 80 stores and approximately 190 franchise operators from a distribution centre in Regina. There is an administratice office in Saskatoon.

SLGA is the main distributor of and sole licensing agent for the sale of beverage alcohol in Saskatchewan. It owns and manages all video lottery terminals (VLTs, i.e., networked video slot machines) and owns and manages the slot machines at five casinos operated by the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA). There are 3,929 VLTs in 669 sites located in 312 communities in Saskatchewan ^[1]. SLGA licenses and regulates most forms of gambling: bingos, raffles, casinos, instant gambling tickets (scratch off or tear to open), and horse racing. SLGA also registers all provincial gambling employees and suppliers. Gambling accounted for 6.5% of the government's revenue in 2003 ^[2]. Over one-half billion dollars are spent on gambling each year in Saskatchewan ^[3].

The New Democratic government decided in 2005 to authorize the SLGA to allow off-sale establishments in the provinces to sell hard liquor to consumers, in addition to cold beer and wine. The decision made Saskatchewan the third Canadian province - others are Alberta and British Columbia - to allow private business owners to sell all types of alcohol-containing beverages for off-premises consumption. The NDP is closely associated with organized labour. Unions in other Canadian provinces have carried out threats of strike action to block similar decisions in their jurisdictions. However, the government may have made the move in an effort to support the hospitality industry which had been suggested to be devastated by a sweeping smoking ban imposed at the start of 2005.

In an effort to appease organized labor, the NDP government agreed that the network of government-owned liquor stores would never be dismantled, as was done in Alberta. It also agreed that, in order to limit the number of private outlets, it would not adopt the British Columbian model where "stand-alone" privately-owned retail outlets have opened. All Saskatchewan off-sale outlets are attached to a licenced "on-sale" establishment. The government also agreed that the off-sale outlets would be required to purchase all of their spirits from the SLGA, at government store prices - same prices as any other consumer, in contrast to B.C. where the private stores receive a 13 percent discount. This ensures that the government liquor stores will always have the lowest prices. The government also agreed that the controversial, franchise-style territorial restrictions that limit the number of off-sale outlets in Saskatchewan's two largest cities (Saskatoon and Regina) would remain in place.

As in all other provinces, government policy with respect to liquor generates a good deal of controversy. An October 2006 Freedom of Information Act request by the Saskatchehwan branch of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) indicated that a liquor store manager can earn as much as $34 an hour, far more than than what even firefighters earn. Unionized positions can pay as much as $21.28/hour, which is higher than the top unionized wage in any other retail store operating in Saskatchewan. The CTF recommends complete privatization of the SLGA, a suggestion the NDP government rejected. The government also rejected the CTF findings as "deliberately misleading". The new Saskatchewan Party government has also rejected further privatization of the SLGA, although while they were in opposition some Saskatchewan Party lawmakers suggested that the government negotiated collective bargaining agreements that were too favourable to the union.[1] It is therefore regarded as an open question how the relationship between the new government and the public service unions will unfold.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority
• Problem gambling - Saskatchewan Questions and Answers (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)