From the AGCO's
Criteria and Procedures for Establishing Bingo Halls:
RE-OPENING A BINGO HALL THAT HAS CLOSED
An applicant wishing to re-open a bingo hall (at the same address) that has ceased operating must submit to the Registrar, within three months of the hall’s closure, a full and complete application form and a viable business plan (including details of the proposed operation) to re-open the hall. The application shall include a letter from the Clerk of the local municipality stating that the municipality has no objection to the applicant re-opening the hall. If the business plan is approved by the Registrar, the hall must open within six months of the date of approval.
If a plan is not submitted within three months, or the bingo hall cannot begin operating within six months from the date of approval, then any application to open a hall at the same location will be considered a new hall application, and must follow the process described in section A above, including advertising the proposal and obtaining approval from the municipal council.
Technically, a re-opened bingo operation would only require a written okay from the City Clerk -- unless the operator fumbles the paperwork or fails to reopen within six months of AGCO approval, in which case the proposed relaunch must be advertised and Council would have to sign off on it.
And that's if the operation actually went out of business.
This would arguably be moot if the business was sold off before the announcement -- which, to be exact, was that "Delta Bingo Hamilton will be closing its doors." It is not impossible to imagine a scenario whereby the "closure" is a temporary time-out to re-brand/re-skin the operation. Given that Council admits to being in the dark about what's coming next, we can't entirely discount the possibility of more of the same under another name.
I mentioned
Boardwalk yesterday because its Peterborough venture struck me as an unusual partnership. Delta Bingo Peterborough is co-owned by Michael Orser (President, Boardwalk Gaming & Entertainment) and Cameron Johnstone (President, Delta Bingo) and appears as a location of
each company. More than that, Orser is Chair and Johnstone Vice-Chair of the Board of the
Commercial Gaming Association of Ontario. As well, one of the companies in the portfolio of
Larry Tanenbaum's
Kilmer Van Nostrand is Penetanguishene-Huronia Bingo Inc., which has a significant interest in BG&E. That seems like a pretty high-test combination.
Or maybe it's just the perverse appeal of having Boardwalk next door to Park Place.
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Untangling the ownership timeline, Delta Hamilton/Fort Erie/St. Catharines were listed among the Johnstone-led
Delta Bingo locations in
Feb 2010 but not in
Feb 2011, when Delta Bingo alerted website visitors that:
Information on bingo halls in Hamilton, St. Catharines and Uncle Sams in Fort Erie are no longer available through this web site.
Be advised that these 3 Bingo halls are not affiliated with Delta Bingo Inc. Interested parties please call the hall directly for any inquiries.
Despite this, a Google search of “
Uncle Sams Bingo Fort Erie” muddies things again: The top entry belongs to
Delta Bingo.