News release

Profits from Gaming Distributed Across the Province

Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation (July 2018 - )

Profits from the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, which are used to help fund public services, like health care, education sport and culture, increased this year.

In 2018-19, the payment to the province was $145.2 million, an increase of 2.2 per cent from $142.1 million in 2017-18.

“The proceeds from gaming are used to pay for important services like roads, health care and education, so sustainability is important and so is social responsibility,” said Bob MacKinnon, president and CEO of the corporation. “At Nova Scotia Gaming, we’re committed to both and we take pride in doing good work in gaming because we’re Nova Scotians, too.”

Overview of Nova Scotia’s gaming industry for 2018-19:

  • $145.2 million payment to province
  • $21.3 million in wages and benefits for 502 full- and part-time jobs
  • $38.1 million in commissions for 1,294 small business owners
  • $6.6 million for the prevention, education and treatment of problem gambling

In 2018-19, an additional $8 million helped fund sport, culture, arts and heritage programs through the sale of designated lottery products. The money was evenly distributed between Support4Sport, which is managed by Sport Nova Scotia, and Support4Culture, which is managed by the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage.

Mermaid Imperial Performing Arts Theatre, in Windsor, was a Support4Culture recipient. The theatre entertains audiences not only in the province, but around the world, including the recent production of the popular children’s book, Good Night Moon, in China.

“The Support4Culture program has really made it possible for Mermaid to grow our programs and create employment,” said Danny Everson, executive director of Mermaid Theatre. “We help university students in the performing arts explore and test their newly acquired skills.

“We encourage young people to read and discover a new way to learn and we bring back revenue and knowledge from our travels. Mermaid really is a theatre for all voices, whether we’re telling the stories of our Indigenous heritage or performing in different languages for audiences around the world.”

Last year, Good Night Moon was offered in Mandarin and seen by more than 15,000 people in 13 Chinese cities. To learn more, go to https://gamingns.ca/AR/ .