Newmarket sides with brewery in charitable bingo battle

The Town of Newmarket is giving Market Brewing Company its charitable bingo night back despite contention from the local charitable gaming association.

Town committee of the whole was unanimous in approval of Market Brewing’s bingo hall application, which will allow it to run a charitable bingo night for a maximum of two nights a week. The company seeks to run a weekly event for three hours, after starting and halting them in 2020.

Both the Newmarket and Ontario charitable gaming associations contested the application, concerned by the possible impact to their fundraising. But Mayor John Taylor said he does not feel Market Brewing would be competition for the full-time hall, Bingo World and Gaming, used by the associations.

“Market Brewing operating will not impact it one iota,” Taylor said. “It’s just too small in comparison.”

Charitable bingo is regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), with licences provided by municipalities. Market Brewing general manager Piers Simpkin said he launched a bingo night in 2020 with some success, but halted them in November 2020 due to pandemic restrictions. He then discovered licensing is required, and he said he has been working on an application since to resume the activity and raise money for local charities.

But the Newmarket Charitable Gaming Association and its provincial counterpart, along with Bingo World and Gaming, pushed back against the application. The organization counts 50 local non-profits among its members, who can volunteer at Bingo World to raise funds for their causes.

Association vice-president Claudia Cozza told council that the pandemic has sincerely hampered fundraising efforts the past two years. She said they fear Market Brewing’s application could make things worse. 

“The negative impacts another gaming facility will have on the charitable gaming in our region is not being fully recognized,” Cozza said. “It is our belief the current atmosphere is not congruent to adding more of these types of facilities.”

But Simpkin compared the situation to new breweries opening in Newmarket, and said he lived with it when they came in. He noted Bingo World is open more than 100 hours per week, compared to the three hours he wants to run bingo.

He said their event is a chance for charities not with the association to get some extra dollars.

“This will strengthen our community further by adding additional support to the charitable organizations that have been missed,” Simpkin said.

His application was supported by five charitable organizations, including Inn From the Cold, Newmarket Food Pantry, Rose of Sharon, PKD Foundation of Canada and the Ontario SPCA Provincial Education and Animal Centre.

Councillor Jane Twinney said she believes in competition, but regardless, Market Brewing is a different entity.

“The people that perhaps would attend an event there may never even have considered going to Bingo World,” she said, adding it might encourage more residents to go to the gaming facility.

Taylor said he understood there is fear from the gaming groups that this could cause more places to start bingo nights, fracturing the marketplace. 

“That’s a more interesting question we need to wrestle with,” he said. “I don’t know the answer to that question yet. We’ll have to look into it.” 

However, he added he does not feel it makes sense to disallow new bingo facilities now, adding the AGCO requires municipalities to be “fair and equitable” when providing licences.