Charitable Gaming Stories

“The brand represents the entire industry,”
an Interview with Richard Schwar, Director of Operations with the OCGA

Recently, we had the pleasure of speaking with Richard Schwar, Director of Operations with the OCGA, about his experience working with Charitable Gaming. Community Good.

Charitable Gaming. Community Good. has raised over $350 million through charitable gaming for over 2,200 charities across Ontario.

Richard Schwar is here to tell us how they continue to support the community through charitable gaming.

I started in charitable gaming, probably 30 years ago, selling breakopen tickets of all things. And have worked with charities, not-for-profits, and bingos ever since. It’s been a great ride. It’s been a lot of fun.

What is CGCG and why is it important?

CGCG stands for Charitable Gaming. Community Good. Charitable gaming as a whole, is what we call a ‘best-kept secret’. There are currently 37 charitable gaming centres in Ontario that participate in bingo and charitable gaming actitivies. The best-kept secret about this, is the portion of those funds actually go back out to local communities. So the money raised in those communities, actually stays there and helps the people. So that money stays there and goes back to help the people like food banks, health organizations, and youth sports. It’s really an amazing piece of gaming, and it’s very unique to charitable gaming, where those funds are actually generated by the involvement of charities in these gaming centres.

The brand represents the entire industry, I think. Certainly, the end results are the charities and the people in the communities. But without the gaming centres, without the involvement with OCGA, the OLG, and our provincial partners, it really wouldn’t be possible.

So it’s very integrated and very partnership-approached industry. So it’s not one piece of it. Obviously, the end result being the charities is unique and critical. But the brand represents everybody IN charitable gaming, it represents the whole industry, and that relationship of everyone giving back to local charities.

We often see CGCG and CG Centres together in a post, can you describe the relationship?

Yeah, it really is about that partnership of the charities and the private sector operations. The private sector operators, the gaming centres, they provide the staff, they have the games, they have the programs, they have the food and beverage. They have that entertainment experience for the consumer. They do a lot of the heavy lifting by selling products and by entertaining the patrons and guests. There are volunteers there in the centres as well that provide customer service support. And in turn, receive a portion of that revenue for their programs and services in the communities. So that relationship is really the yin and yang of charitable gaming. The operators provide the opportunity. And the volunteers provide resourcing to help raise those funds.

Charitable Gaming Stories

“The brand represents the entire industry,”
an Interview with Richard Schwar, Director of Operations with the OCGA

Tell us about yourself. How long have you been involved in charitable gaming?

What is CGCG and why is it important?

Who does this brand represent? approximately how many charities?

We often see CGCG and CG Centres together in a post, can you describe the relationship?

Charitable Gaming Stories

“The brand represents the entire industry,” an Interview with Richard Schwar, Director of Operations with the OCGA

Tell us about yourself. How long have you been involved in charitable gaming?

What is CGCG and why is it important?

Who does this brand represent? approximately how many charities?

We often see CGCG and CG Centres together in a post, can you describe the relationship?

“The brand represents the entire industry,”
an Interview with Richard Schwar, Director of Operations with the OCGA