Moncton Mayor gives gaming plan thumbs up
November 09, 2007 - 5:17 am
By: News 91.9 Staff
MONCTON, NB - If a casino is going to be built in New Brunswick, Moncton Mayor Lorne Mitton says it might as well be built in the Hub City.
Moncton has gone on record as saying it favours having a gaming facility in the city.
Mitton believes a casino would bring more visitors to the province and could be another reason Moncton is a destination.
Mitton adds he's pleased with how the province has issued a request for proposals for a casino by not pitting one municipality against another.
Under the plan, the government has issued a request for proposals for a casino to be in operation somewhere in the province by 2010.
The facility won't be funded or operated by the government, but Finance Minister Victor Boudreau says he expects the province will pocket about $25 million per year in revenue.
The government's new responsible gaming policy will cut the number of video-lottery terminal sites by 50 per cent, and the actual number of machines by 25 per cent by April 2009.They'll be removed from restaurants, while Royal Canadian Legion branches will be able to keep theirs. Legislation will be introduced to regulate charitable gaming activities, including the licensing of Texas hold 'em poker tournaments.
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Who? Where? When?
Casino Winning location will find a mix of positive and negative spin-offs,
Quentin Casey
Telegraph-Journal
Published Friday November 9th, 2007
Appeared on page A1
FREDERICTON - Bets are already landing on who will build the province's first casino, and where, after the provincial government gave the green-light to the gambling project Thursday.
And while Saint John appears the early front runner, experts warn that casino windfalls come at a cost: nearby businesses can be trampled, crime and addiction rates rise, and success hinges on bringing in visitors - not just local residents.
At first glance it seems Saint John is most likely to grapple with those issues, says Stewart Hyson, a gambling policy specialist at the University of New Brunswick.
With a large population and strong ties to the tourism sector - particularly the cruise ship industry - Saint John is well placed to house the new facility.
Moncton, the other likely spot, is centrally located and can tap into the entire Maritime population, he notes.
But that is also a disadvantage. Nearby Charlottetown has a racino - a combination casino and racetrack - and Halifax has a well established casino.
Moncton developers may find their market is more saturated than that of Saint John, Hyson said.
"Moncton is perhaps a bit too close to that market. It would seem that Saint John would have a better argument to make," Hyson said. "Saint John would probably be in the lead."
Plans for a Saint John area gambling house have already surfaced.
Saint John's Exhibition Association recently unveiled a plan to build a $20-million multiplex that would combine a racino with hockey rinks, indoor soccer fields and other amenities.
On Thursday, the government announced it would allow one casino to be built in the province, to help revive the sagging tourism industry. A request for proposals was launched by Finance Minister Victor Boudreau, who expects the casino to generate $25 million for the government annually - when it opens in 2010.
According to Hyson, the winning location will find the casino brings a mix of positive and negative spin-offs.
New jobs and a boon to the construction industry will be seen as pluses.
But Hyson says casinos often "cannibalize" the local economy.
Many local businesses find it hard to compete with the casino's economic pull, especially when hotels, boutiques and restaurants are all connected to it.
"The expectations will be higher than reality," he said in an interview Thursday. "There may be some unforeseen losses down the road."
Also to be considered are the issues of addiction and crime.
"Who is going to pay to (treat) the addicts and (fight) crime if it increases?" he said. "All too often the government focuses on the positive"¦ They ignore some of the negatives. People don't like to talk about the downsides."
As part of its new gambling plan, the province also announced an increase of $250,000 for addiction services. Currently addiction care funding sits at $757,000.
Bill Rutsey, president of the Canadian Gaming Association, argues that gambling addiction and crime do not increase when a new casino opens its doors.
"Statistically the crime levels don't go up - that's a myth," he said. "And it doesn't change the rate of problem gambling "¦ that's absolutely incorrect.
"It's an absolute fallacy."
According to Rutsey, a number of companies may be interested in launching the province's first casino, including Great Canadian Casinos, a British Columbia firm that operates from the west coast to Halifax.
Gateway Casinos & Entertainment, another B.C. firm could enter the fray with a proposal, as might Harrah's, which runs casinos all over the United States.
Falls Management Company, which developed the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort, could also be a contender, Rutsey said.
Jason Azmier, of the Canada West Foundation think-tank, has published 18 reports on casino gambling in Canada.
He says success hinges on one key figure: 50 per cent of the casino's patrons must come from outside the region.
"Otherwise it's a shifting of money around the bath tub," he said. "Unless new water is brought into the tub from tourism, then you're really just moving the money around the community.
"The more naturally existing tourism opportunities that are there, the more successful it's going to be - because you're drawing outside money into the region as opposed to trapping money inside."
Azmier echoes concern about the cannibalizing characteristics of casinos on the local economy.
He says other forms of entertainment - like theatres and sports teams - will likely suffer, as a finite number of entertainment dollars are spread around.
"It's not a total plus to the region. There will be a shifting around of economics," he said.
"It's a mixed bag - there are some positives and negatives."
Social pitfalls - like crime, family stress, suicides and more addicts - will come, he insists.
"There's not going to be an exponential growth in these things. But there will be a moderate growth," he said.
"Revenue numbers should not be the only indicator of success. There are the personal costs that also need to be part of the equation."
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Metro housing starts up in October
Times & Transcript staff
Published Friday November 9th, 2007
Appeared on page C2
October proved to be a good month for housing construction starts with the numbers of single dwellings up over October of last year.
The number of single housing starts in urban centres reached 171. That's 28 or 19.6 per cent more than last October's total of 143, say preliminary figures released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Increases were noted in both Moncton and Saint John while Fredericton saw a slight decline in numbers for October.
The total number of housing starts in the urban centres was 263 compared to 234 in October of last year, a 12.4 per cent increase.
Multiple housing starts numbers were virtually unchanged this year from last year with 92 starts last month compared to 91 in October 2006.
The total was down on the year-to-date column with 1,118 units for the first 10 months compared to 1,183 last year, a decline of 3.3 per cent.
"The year-to-date increase in total starts has been bolstered by an increased number of single starts in 2007", said Claude Gautreau, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for New Brunswick.
The total for Canadian urban centres for October was pegged at 16,037 housing starts, a 9 per cent drop from 17,393 starts in October 2006.
Both the single and multiple housing starts suffered declines.
Single-detached housing starts dropped from 8,220 last year to 7,370 this year, a difference of 10 per cent.
The number of multiple housing starts went from 9,373 in October 2006 to 8,687 this year, a decline of seven per cent, according to the figures.
The Atlantic region also did well with 737 new units started last month compared to 604 in October 2006.
Moncton had 36 housing starts last month compared to 32 in the previous October, an increase of 7.7 per cent, but saw the total for multiple housing starts drop nearly 40 per cent to 48 compared from 79 last year.
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In French Only
’Moncton est le meilleur endroit’
Mise à jour le vendredi 09 novembre 2007
Par: Philippe Ricard
FREDERICTON - Il n’a pas fallu beaucoup de temps après l’annonce de la nouvelle politique de jeu du gouvernement Graham pour constater que certaines personnes jubilent à l’idée de voir un casino s’implanter au N.-B.
Le président de la Canadian Gaming Association, Bill Rutsey, a expressément fait le voyage depuis l’Ontario pour assister à cette annonce. M. Rutsey, qui était de passage à Moncton au début octobre pour vanter les retombées économiques générées par les casinos, a adopté le discours gouvernemental, hier
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