Around $3 million has been awarded to groups and organizations that conduct charitable gaming fundraisers in Saskatchewan, with $146,329 making its way to the area around Estevan and Weyburn.

Groups and organizations receive a grant equal to a quarter of their net revenues raised through things such as bingos, raffles, and Texas Hold'em poker tournaments.

Estevan MLA Lori Carr said the money can really help out local organizations.

"I think this funding is really exciting. As you can imagine, these funds come from the gaming revenue in the province. And we really haven't had any gaming revenue for the past three or four months. So we made the decision to go ahead and still give these grants out to communities because we know how important it is for them."

A total of 1,500 groups are receiving grant money across the province.

"We've got funding for Benson, for Bienfait, and for Estevan," said Carr. "I guess the Bienfait Fire Department got some money. We had funding go to the Estevan Bruins, to Envision Counselling, the Royal Canadian Legion, Estevan Sharks Water Polo. All of these organizations are great organizations within our community that do such good work."

The Estevan Bruins are receiving $35,094.65 for the second quarter (April, May, June). 

You can find the total list of recipients for the first quarter here, and for the second quarter here.

"Anytime you can give back to the communities and to the smaller organizations that depend on these grants is always a good thing," said Carr. "Obviously the province is not going to have a ton of money to be throwing around, because of COVID-19 and the expenses that we had to incur. But having said that, we do think that programs like these are important to continue with."

Minister Responsible for SLGA Gene Makowsky said these grants make a difference in a number of fields.

"Charitable gaming grants help support new and upgraded community infrastructure projects, support senior’s programming, and provide dollars to the minor sports that our youth and children enjoy," he said. "These programs help make communities strong and our government is pleased to provide grants that support these efforts."