New casino?

[thistleclub]

New lease on life?
(Ottawa Sun, Susan Sherring, Feb 20 2013)

The Rideau Carleton Raceway is being forced to sign a new lease with the Ontario Lottery Corporation if it wants to proceed in the bidding process to become the operator of a new high-end casino.

And the new lease is a deal worth millions less for the raceway leaving everyone involved wondering if it can make it financially.

“We’re talking about surviving under this,” said Al Lawryk, the spokesman for Rideau Carleton.

“We’d like to survive and not just survive, but to run a very successful operation. We’d like to continue to do that.”

Last year, according to OLG spokesman Tony Bitonti, Rideau Carleton got slightly more than $14 million, as did the purse for the racetrack.

That latter $14 million is now gone, under the new lease.

Neither the OLG nor the track would discuss what the new lease says, other than to confirm the purse money is gone.

The Ontario Lottery Corporation has embarked on what it calls a modernization plan, where it’s going to stop funding horse racing across the province. Instead, they’re asking gaming operators interested in building a bigger and better casino to make a bid.

So unless Rideau Carleton is chosen as the winning bidder to develop a new casino at its present location, it appears unlikely it can survive financially for very long.

And that, Lawryk admits, helped force their hand to agree to sign a new, revised lease with the OLG.

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by CaptainKirk

What is your source that PJ mentioned a 200 seat venue at the council meeting? Is there video, audio or transcript?

The source is my ears - I listened in on live webcast of the meeting. Whether or not there is a written transcript or a saved video of the meeting is something I'll leave you to find. Perhaps somewhere on the city website.

BTW a big thank you to Thistleclub who consistently brings relevant info and news into the threads here.

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

The source is my ears - I listened in on live webcast of the meeting. Whether or not there is a written transcript or a saved video of the meeting is something I'll leave you to find. Perhaps somewhere on the city website.

No thanks, can't be bothered. Until it's sourced somewhere on record, it's nothing more than anonymous internet hearsay.

[realcity]

Listen to the CHML archives with Bill Kelly. PJ refers to the venue as "intimate live venue with 200 seats for local bands".

It'll compete with holes like Casbah, not GS/LN.... our local bands should be thrilled to play on an upscale stage in a Hard Rock.

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by realcity

Listen to the CHML archives with Bill Kelly. PJ refers to the venue as "intimate live venue with 200 seats for local bands".

It'll compete with holes like Casbah, not GS/LN.... our local bands should be thrilled to play on an upscale stage in a Hard Rock.

Is it here, the interview on Feb 15?

http://www.900chml.com/Station/BillKellyShow/Audio.aspx

[bigguy1231]

It really doesn't matter whether it's 200 or 2000 seats Global Spectrum/Live nation should have no say in the matter, a casino would be a private venture not a city built venture. The city should not be protecting or preventing anyone from building competing venues.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Re. horse racing/ OLG

Anyone ever tried horse meat? It's not just for dogs and Europeans you know.

[thistleclub]

The State — Addiction (City Journal, Steven Malanga, Summer 2012)

In January, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced a bold plan to bring a $4 billion casino and conference center to Queens. But the plan fell apart within months, thanks to the reluctance of the state’s prospective partner, the Malaysian — company Genting, to undertake the massive investment without a guarantee that it would have the exclusive right to operate casinos in New York City.

New York is one of several states that don’t want to be left behind as their neighbors institute more and more varieties of —. At least 12 states, facing downturn-depleted coffers, have already expanded — efforts over the last three years—including Massachusetts, which became the 16th state to sanction casinos. But this approach is utterly misguided, since — has often disappointed as a fiscal tool and as an economic-development strategy. As legal — has spread, competition for limited dollars has intensified, and the new — enterprises seem merely to be siphoning money from elsewhere in the economy instead of generating new economic activity....

Notwithstanding the widespread failure of — as a fiscal and economic-development tool, states keep trying to use it. New York is exploring full-fledged casinos, while in response, New Jersey politicians are urging the governor to expand casino — statewide—though that would likely cannibalize revenue from Atlantic City. Massachusetts’s recent vote to approve casinos has prompted politicians in other New England states, such as Rhode Island, to push for their own. And as consumers’ interest in traditional lotteries continues to wane, states scramble to add more games, even eyeing sports betting—which today exists legally only in Las Vegas.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce

Anyone ever tried horse meat? It's not just for dogs and Europeans you know.

They love horse meat in France, so why do we turn our noses up? (The Telegraph, Boris Johnson, Feb 11 2013)

[oldcoote]

Originally Posted by realcity

Listen to the CHML archives with Bill Kelly. PJ refers to the venue as "intimate live venue with 200 seats for local bands".

It'll compete with holes like Casbah, not GS/LN.... our local bands should be thrilled to play on an upscale stage in a Hard Rock.

With all due respect, you're out of touch with the local music scene.

[thistleclub]

In addition to Copps and Hamilton Place, Global Spectrum/Live Nation also manages The Molson Canadian Theatre, a 350- to 550-person venue that serves as an overflow room for local club bookers. There's plenty of grey area to go around.

[thistleclub]

Notable for the fact that Georgian Downs is a GCGC sister facility to Flamboro Downs. The OLG has already reached agreements with 11 of 14 Slots at Racetrack sites and hopes to lock down the remaining three (Ajax Downs, no relation, being the third) within the next week.

Slots to stay at Georgian Downs, for now, live horse racing not certain
(New Tecumseth Free Press, Feb 22, 2013)

The OLG Slots will continue to operate at Georgian Downs beyond the previously announced closure date of March 31, because the future of gaming in the region remains an unfinished work in progress, Innisfil councillors were told Wednesday night.

Jake Pastore, Director Municipal and community Relations, and Tony Bitolti, Senior Manager Media Relations of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming & Commission, OLG, provided a status update, and assurances that Innisfil would continue to be a host site for slots. However, that assurance doesn't necessarily mean at Georgian Downs, according to published reports quoting Innisfil mayor Barb Baguley.

Each municipality hosting an OLG Casino or an OLG Slots-at-racetrack facility receives five per cent of the gaming facility's gross slot machine revenue from the first 450 slot machines and two per cent from any additional machines over that number. Georgian Downs has 1,000 machines. To date, Innisfil has received over $43 million since the OLG Slots opened in 2001.

And, until now, the horse racing venues received 20 per cent of gross slot machine revenue split evenly between the track owner and the horse racing industry. Since the launch of the program in 1998, more than $2.91 billion has been shared between racetrack owners and their horse people.

Georgian Downs, owned by the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation based in BC, and the OLG are believed to be negotating new terms forced by the fact the Ontario government is ending the revenue sharing aspect of slots with the horse racing industry, and as a result, relocating the slots to non-horse racing venues.

"In the meantime, OLG is going to continue to operate somewhere," according to Ms. Baguley on the Rock 95 news site. "If Great Canadian Gaming and OLG make a deal, fabulous, they'll remain and it'll be pretty seamless. But, if OLG and Great Canadian can't come to terms, then, I guess, they'll be looking for another location, you know, locally."

[thistleclub]

Meta-facepalm.

City has options if slot revenues were to disappear
(Hamilton Spectator, Emma Reilly, Feb 22 2013)

Amid the controversy, anger, and divisiveness surrounding Hamilton’s casino question, one thing has kept councillors from walking away altogether — money.

The Slots at Flamboro Downs are an important revenue source for the city, bringing millions into municipal coffers. Last year, the city made $4.5 million off the facility’s 800 slot machines. That represents about 0.6 per cent of the total tax rate.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation has indicated Hamilton could handle up to 1,200 slots, which could generate between $5 million and $7 million annually for the city.

However, if Hamilton were to lose that revenue, the city could make financial decisions — albeit difficult ones — to help ease that gap.

Mike Zegarac, the city’s finance chief, says the city has two options: cutting spending or increasing revenue.

[thistleclub]

Follow the headline link for pathos-rich comments.

Flamboro Deals Imminent?
(StandardbredCanada.com, Feb 20 2013)

The Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corp. and Flamboro Downs are reportedly "extremely close" to signing a lease agreement, according to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs horse racing transition panel.

John Snobelen, one of three members on the OMAFRA panel, told the YourHamiltonBiz.com that a deal with the Dundas, Ont. half-mile oval is imminent. The news comes less than a week after Hamilton City Council voted unanimously that any new casino development should go to the Flamboro Downs location.

The OLG has already reached agreements with 11 other Ontario racetracks.

“We had a host of tracks in last week to meet with Finance, and more meetings are taking place this week,” said Snobelen. “We will have a significant number of tracks in place before the end of the month, and then we can focus our efforts in March on setting race dates and purses. Basically, the question comes down to the track operators – are you in or are you out? Once that’s clear, who’s in and who’s out, we’ll be able to work with the ORC on putting together a racing schedule that makes sense."

Snobelen said that he expects significant movement on the horse racing file within the next five to 10 days, and when the negotiations are complete, he believes Ontario will rank among the top five horse racing jurisdictions in North America.


Great Canadian Gaming Corporation took over both Flamboro Downs and Georgian Downs in October 2005. They remain the company's only two Ontario holdings. A review of GCGC's annual reports shows that the two Downses have been essentially static performers from 2006 to 2011. Both remained steady at 5% and 4% of company revenues from 2007-2010, but Flamboro slipped in 2011, making up just 4% of the pie. GCGC's River Rock Casino Resort, meanwhile, has been the big breadwinner: It was responsible for 30% of company revenue in 2008, climbing to 36% in 2011.

In that same period, slots revenues have edged up from 40% to 41% of revenues, table games dipped slightly from 27% to 26% of revenues, while racetrack share has plunged from 8% to 5% of revenues. To put this in perspective, GCGC makes 3% of its total revenues off of hotel rooms, and it only has those at River Rock (as of 2011: 395 hotel rooms, plus 1,006 slots, 112 table games, 28 touch bet terminals, 1,000-seat theatre, conference facilities, pool/spa, seven dining facilities and an inlet marina... next to a SkyTrain station and 4km east of YVR).

[thistleclub]

OLG keeping its market research on Ottawa a secret
(blogs.ottawacitizen.com, David Reevely, Feb 25 2013)

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. has researched how willing Ottawans are to — and what we want in a casino, but we aren’t allowed to see the results.

The fact this research exists is disclosed in passing in a package of documents I received under access-to-information legislation, seeking correspondence between the city and OLG — the one that led to this story about all the collaboration between OLG and the mayor’s office in getting the first stage of casino approvals through city council....

Weird things happen when governments get into commerce. I wouldn’t think for a second that I was entitled to see the market research from Rock Gaming or Caesars Entertainment underlying their bids for the OLG’s business, but they aren’t government agencies ostensibly doing our bidding. OLG is in this weird hybrid position of working for the people of Ontario but being able to keep information from the people of Ontario simply because of the kind of work it does. We paid for research to inform something our government is doing in the interest of extracting more money from us (in exchange for, in principle, supplying us with more fun), but we can’t see it.

[thistleclub]

Good-bye bingo dabbers, hello touchscreens
(St. Catharines Standard, Marlene Bergsma, Feb 25, 2013)

Good-bye bingo dabbers, hello touch screens. St. Catharines city councillors unanimously approved changes to the city’s charity bingo policy Monday night, permitting the city’s last surviving bingo hall to go high-tech.

Delta Bingo will continue to provide paper cards for people who want to play the old way, said Andrea Bellenie, secretary-treasurer of the Hamilton company that owns Delta. But adding electronic games will hopefully save a business that’s been in decline for a decade. It will cost Delta Bingo $500,000 to introduce electronic bingo, Bellenie said, but without the changes, it won’t survive. It lost $200,000 last year, she said.

Electronic bingo will also mean more money for the 79 local charities who use bingo as a fundraiser, said Bellenie in a letter to council. It will also save the jobs of 27 employees, she said. A report from city clerk Bonnie Nistico-Dunk said the changes could boost bingo revenues in St. Catharines by 20%, which would mean an extra $500,000 a year for charities. St. Andrew’s Coun. Mat Siscoe said he supports the move to electronic bingo because if bingo revenue dries up, those charities could be turning to the city for grants instead.

[coalminecanary]

More "jobs and revenue" spin from the — leeches. — is not an "industry". It produces zero value. Electronic bingo is just one step closer to slot machines.

If delta bingo left downtown Hamilton, the core would immediately see improvements in activity and property standards. It's dragging the Gore down like an anchor.

[thistleclub]

And then there were two.

OLG PR:

OLG Reaches Agreement in Principle for Lease at Ajax Downs

TORONTO, ON – The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) is pleased to announce that it has reached a lease agreement in principle for its slots operations at Ajax Downs.

OLG has provided the site holder with a Letter of Intent, which sets out the general intentions and business arrangements, subject to approvals, between OLG and the site. OLG previously announced it has reached agreements in principle for its slots operations with 11 other site holders.

“We are pleased to have reached lease agreements in principle for our slots operations at 12 of 14 sites,” said Rod Phillips, President and CEO of OLG. “We continue to hold discussions with the remaining site holder and are hopeful that a positive outcome to those discussions is near for all facilities.”

OLG hopes to finalize the agreement with the site holder by March 15, 2013.


The die will be cast on Flamboro in the next three weeks.

[Jon Dalton]

I've been thinking something different for the casino issue.

I don't favour a downtown casino because I expect it to be an urban planning disaster much like Jackson Square. I don't think — in and of itself will ruin a city, but rather the type of development that large casinos favour is not conducive to healthy downtown activity.

Perhaps the problem is not allowing too many casinos, but over-regulating them in the first place.

I don't believe in prohibition. It didn't work for alcohol, and it sure as hell doesn't work for drugs. As casino proponents are quick to point out, it would be illogical to ban — but allow the sale of alcohol. What if we were to apply the same regulatory techniques to — as we already do to alcohol and other vices?

Scrap the OLG, legalize — everywhere, tax the proceeds, and regulate venues through municipal zoning and licensing.

In a free market, where is the business case for a huge, insular — complex to serve an entire metropolitan area?

I could be wrong - maybe in such an environment the industry would converge on Hamilton, take advantage of our cheap real estate and turn it into Atlantic City. I'm just thinking outside the box a little.

[coalminecanary]

I'm in the same boat. I'm not against —, and I'm not against the government taking a cut of it as a sin tax just like they do with alcohol.

What I am against is this forced emergency where we are given a near ultimatum - "have a downtown casino or lose the slots funding". It's a poisonous process.

I am also against the concept of a downtown casino for Hamilton because it will most certainly cost us more than it will bring in. Casinos have been known to damage other downtowns. Why risk it? Why not look for alternate locations which limit the capability for a casino to do damage to developments that are underway or on their way? This seems like basic risk management to me. We KNOW there are huge risks associated with downtown casinos. Why aren't we looking at the entire city and deciding if there's a more suitable place?

I am also against this new plan of paying third party non-ontario-based operators. It's economic suicide at the provincial level.

I am also against the OLG's predatory tactics. We would not tolerate the government attempting to attract more and younger smokers in order to increase cigarette tax revenue, yet this is exactly what is in the OLG mandate for gamblers.

The result of all this is me coming down hard on the NO side, even though in principal I have zero problem with people choosing to — and the government taking a cut.