Vision_2012_10_18

NEWS

editionap.ca

Ideas for potential casino windfall

eration in the city. Blais sees many potential benefits to his ward, starting with prop- erty development once the OLG decides on what developer or development group won the bid for an Ottawa casino project. “I’ve pitched a couple pieces of property in our ward,” he said. “The feedback I get,

though, is that they would be too far from the downtown.” Blais observed that his ward could still be in the running, depending on what a development consortium proposed to the OLG for an Ottawa casino complex. What he is focusing more of his attention on

now is where the city’s future share of any potential new gambling resort revenue should go. “My view is that it should be used for in- frastructure renewal,” he said. “I think 100 per cent of it should be spent on infrastruc- ture renewal.”

GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca

OTTAWA | Right now the future of any possible casino project for the City of Ot- tawa is hanging on the next political dice roll. But Coun. Stephen Blais has some thoughts about the potential benefits for his Cumberland ward if the nation’s capi- tal did have a Las Vegas-style gambling operation. Blais is one of the voices on Ottawa city council supporting the idea of a casino de- velopment for the municipality, under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Lotteries and Gaming Corp. (OLG). “Looking at the economic benefits, they’re tremendous,” Blais said during a phone interview. Ottawa is located in one of the zones that the OLG has designated as ripe for potential casino development if community support exists and a suitable development group is available. Council has authorized Mayor Jim Watson to contact the OLG and state that the city “supports in principle” the idea but makes no further commitment on the OLG’s request for interest (RFI). Council has asked administration for an analysis on all the potential benefits and impacts of a casino development, whether it is an expansion of the existing Rideau Carleton Raceway (RCR) slots operation, or a separate development project. Both council and the mayor will press the OLG for special consideration of the RCR as one of the final proponents for a casino setup if the city does become a potential host city site for the OLG to market to investors. Slot machines have been part of the gambling attraction at the RCR since 2000 with 1250 OLG slots set up there at pres- ent. Since 2000 the RCR gaming operation has provided more than $45 million to the City of Ottawa. Last year the city approved a two-year pilot project to add 21 gaming tables at RCR, though that is still subject to both local zoning and OLG approvals. Since receiving the conditional RFI from Ottawa the OLG has responded with a breakdown of what the city’s percentage would be from any new or expanded ca- sino gambling development. The city’s “cut” would be 5.25 per cent on the first $65 mil- lion net revenue from slots, three per cent on the next $135 million, 2.5 per cent on the next $300 million, and then 0.5 per cent on any further net revenue from OLG slots. “This is, I understand, the direction from OLG,” Blais said. He noted that those figures are based on the existing number of slots at the RCR. The end result, using projections based on cur- rent slots operations, is that the city could see $5.6 million a year for its general rev- enue fund from casino slots alone based on the OLG percentages. “That’s $1.3 million more than we current- ly get,” Blais said, adding that if the num- ber of OLG slots increased by 40 per cent to 2000 slots in total, there is a potential for $7.3 million a year to city coffers. There would be other revenue benefits through related development charges and property taxes for other parts of a casino develop- ment, including any hotel, restaurant, and other entertainment additions. The OLG is expected to announce next year if it has a proponent for a casino op-

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