Vancouver city council is again trying to ram through a major decision that will radically influence the city’s evolution without much public consultation, according to activists who oppose Paragon Gaming Corp.’s proposal to build the largest casino in Western Canada adjacent to BC Place Stadium.
Critics have previously attacked Mayor Gregor Robertson and his council for failing to adequately consult the public prior to:
- spending more than $4 million to build separated bike lanes; and
- approving changes to allow for construction of taller buildings in the city.
“I don’t think the citizens of Vancouver have really had a good discussion about where we’re going,” said Bing Thom Architects principal Bing Thom, who has designed iconic Metro Vancouver structures such as Surrey’s Central City complex, Richmond’s Aberdeen Centre and Vancouver’s Chan Centre.
City council scheduled its first public meeting on the proposed casino for February 21.
Thom wants the city to hold a referendum to discover whether residents want the Edgewater Casino to expand to 150 game tables from 75 and to 1,500 slots from 520. The project also involves two hotels with a total of 647 suites as well as a cabaret and plenty of retail and meeting space.
Others echo his call, but not Michael Graydon, British Columbia Lottery Corp.’s (BCLC) president and CEO.
“Everyone seems to be using referenda as a solution for all the decisions that need to be taken either provincially or municipally,” he told Business in Vancouver.
“This isn’t a fundamental decision with regards to the gaming. It’s more of a decision with regard to an existing facility.”
Robertson estimated the city’s cost to hold a referendum would be around $1 million. He added in an email that “decisions on slots at Hastings Park and Edgewater were made by city council following extensive public hearings, not by referendum. We’re about to start the public hearing process for the Edgewater Casino relocation/expansion and there will be plenty of opportunity for people to give us their opinion over the next several weeks.”
Graydon believes the casino expansion proposal would pass in a referendum, despite last week’s Justason Market Intelligence poll, which found 51% of Vancouver residents oppose it and 31% support it.
Many opponents aim to find support by pointing to what they describe as public money being funnelled into paying 40% of the capital costs for the privately run casinos.
But Graydon said that’s fear mongering and a manipulation of the facts.
He pointed out that the “public money,” which anti-gambling activists point to, is really facility development commissions that the BCLC provides to casino operators based on how much revenue the facilities generate.
B.C.’s former NDP government devised the system in 1997.
About $0.70 out of each dollar that gamblers lose at B.C. casinos:
- pays local governments in the form of commissions;
- pays BCLC operating costs; and
- funds a wide array of provincial government programs.
The remaining $0.30 of that dollar is returned to the casino operators.
The facility development commissions, which must be spent on capital costs, make up about $0.05 of the $0.30.
Said Graydon: “What is brilliant about this particular commission structure is that it has built in the requirement for capital spending both from a development as well as from a continuing-improvements perspective to ensure that the quality of casinos that are developed meet what the customer need is.”
(See “Too many casino questions without answers” – Peter Ladner’s At Large column, page 36.)