Mary Ann
| Jan 17, 2026

2026 BC Gaming Program Grant program guidelines released!

Buckle up everyone….our favourite time of the granting year is here again…time to apply for your annual BC Gaming Program Grant!

The application period for the Art & Culture sector is February 1 to April 30, 2026.

I have completed a review of the new 2026 program guidelines document (released on Jan 15), comparing it against the 2025 guidelines, to note any and all changes for this year. I have highlighted the document with the primary changes throughout – downloadable here:

2026 Community Gaming Grant Guidelines – CHANGES Download

Summary of Changes for the 2026 year:

Renewed Funding applications are (again) NOT available in 2026. The guidelines do not state the why they have not reinstituted the Renewed form option this year. In any event, this means that ALL applicants will need to submit a Regular (long form) application again this year (see Section 5.2, page 25).
Eligibility Criteria are unchanged for 2026, however, please note:
- a language clarification regarding non-eligible government operated and controlled facilities (see Section 3.2, page 13)
- criteria re available extensions to restricted fund timeframes: minor language updates/clarifications for further transparency (see Section 3.3, page 15)
- minor language clarification re: how bad faith fund transfers and restrictions will impact applicants (see Section 3.3, page 16)
- criteria/language clarification re eligible housing projects (see Section 4.2, page 18).
Simplification & clarification re demonstration of in-kind contributions: Moving forward, applicants may provide the in-kind contributions summary but no longer have to embed the revenues and expenses into the separate program actuals. The language also clarifies that only actual contributions from the previous fiscal year are considered, and in-kind projections for the current or future period are not reviewed. (see Section 4.3, page 21).

Key Things to Know about the Gaming Program Grant:

Grant applications can be submitted any time between February 1 and April 30, 2025 for Arts & Cultural organizations (and unlike other funders, Gaming assesses applications as they come in…meaning the earlier you apply, the earlier you get your $$).
Eligible applicants must be not-for-profit (including designated Community Service Cooperatives); but are not are not required to be provincially or federally incorporated. Funding is available for organizations/groups who provide public programming/activities, from five sectors (each with its own application intake period): Arts & Culture (Feb1-Apr30), Sport (Mar1-May31), Public Safety (Jul1-Aug31), Environment (Jul1-Aug31), and Human & Social Services (Aug1-Nov 30).