Big donations to B.C. Liberals linked to bingo industry

Private bingo hall and community gaming centre interests appear to have contributed $269,711 to the provincial Liberals between 2002 and 2007. But almost none of those donations were made via companies publicly-identified as bingo hall service providers in British Columbia Lottery Corp. annual reports released between fiscal 2002/03 and 2007/08. Instead, a three week investigation by Public Eye shows 98 percent of the donations came in the form of contributions from industry-connected individuals or companies whose president is a current or former gaming facility owner/operator. And almost a quarter of the donations were recorded by the Liberals as being made on the same day - February 15, 2005, three months before the last provincial election.