Inuvik (Dec 15/06) - Inuvik skier Brian Terry is against a new lottery terminal that recently opened up in town and he wants the town council to prevent more from operating.

NorthMart employee Kim Halley stands behind the newest Lotto 6/49 terminal in Inuvik. The Inuvik Ski Club runs the town's original lotto booth at Rexall Drugs. The club is asking town council to stop any more terminals from being set up in town. - Dez Loreen/NNSL photo

A new lotto 6/49 booth was installed in the NorthMart store in early November.

The Inuvik Ski Club manages the original booth, located in Rexall drugs.

Terry, the ski club's president, made a presentation to town council on Monday night, outlining his concerns about the new booth and the rumours about a second one opening in the new year.

"We have given funding to the town from our proceeds with the lotto booth," said Terry. "We made a donation of $10,000 to the new family centre, which was more than we could afford, but it is a good cause."

Five per cent of the Rexall lotto booth's collected money goes toward the ski club, for managerial costs.

Annually, the Rexall booth rakes in nearly $400,000 through the sale of lottery and scratch tickets.

Terry explained to councillors that the money added up to near $20,000 per year, which is used for utilities at the ski club cabin, as well as costs for the staffing of the booth by Rexall employees.

"None of our bills are subsidized," said Terry. "We pay for it all out of the money from the lotto booth. It's our lifeline."

Terry added that the booth has been in control of the ski club for the past 18 years.

While it is still too early to see how much revenue the new terminal has taken away from the original booth, Terry said the money gathered in the NorthMart booth goes to NorthMart, not a community organization.

He argued that a new booth would also take money from the town's bingo tickets, which are also sold at the Rexall booth.

"We should monitor the changes in our economy," said Terry. "I want the council to make a letter of protest to Sport North, telling them that we don't want another booth in town."

Deputy mayor Chris Larocque said council would take the information given by Terry and decide on an action once the ski club approached them with options.

Sport North lottery manager Gary Brennan said the Northmart booth was the result of an initiative that was started in September of this year.

Brennan denied any rumours of another booth being opened up in town, but said a review of each NWT community is currently underway.

"Nothing concrete has been decided as of yet," said Brennan.

Sport North is the government appointed body that looks after lotteries in the NWT. Any new terminals would first need to be approved by the minister of Municipal and Community Affairs before anything is finalized and installed.

Brennan said he had talked with the senior administrative officer for the town of Inuvik about the new booth, although nothing was officially presented to council.

"Any time new competition comes to a town, there will be confrontations like this," said Brennan.