Toronto will lose out on a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity if it rejects building a new casino and entertainment complex in the city core, OLG chair Paul Godfrey warned Friday.
His pitch to the Toronto Board of Trade comes three weeks before East York holds a public forum about the possibility of a downtown casino, and two months before the city’s executive committee debates the issue, which has generated stiff opposition among some residents and councillors.
“This is a one-time opportunity,” Mr. Godfrey said. “It’s not like the Grey Cup game where you play it every year. It’s not like the Santa Claus parade that you have once every year. If they vote no on it, and the people of Toronto have given them the right… We’ll be building it somewhere else.”
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation in March announced plans to build a new casino in Greater Toronto as part of a package of sweeping reforms to the province’s gambling industry. Though 33 other municipalities have since expressed interest, Mr. Godfrey says downtown Toronto is OLG’s first choice.
He estimates a downtown casino and entertainment centre could create 12,000 jobs and generate more than $2-billion in capital investments in the city. Less than 10% of the facility’s square footage would be table games and slots, Mr. Godfrey noted, with other portions devoted to retail, hospitality, entertainment and convention space.
“If it’s not in Toronto, it will be somewhere else — in Markham, in Richmond Hill, in Vaughan, in Mississauga — and it won’t be as iconic, it will not produce the number of jobs, it will not produce the economic growth, it will not give you the tourism,” Mr. Godfrey said. The OLG will not impose a casino on an unreceptive city, he added.
“This is the one shot to make it happen, [but] we are only going to do so in a community that welcomes us.”
A spokesman for Rob Ford said the mayor would “support anything that’s a fair deal for taxpayers,” but the casino proposal has its share of council critics, including Adam Vaughan, whose downtown ward encompasses a possible site.
Mr. Vaughan, who argues the social costs of a casino would outweigh any gambling windfall, also questioned the OLG’s job projections: “They are wildly fantastic numbers, and I don’t believe them, and unless he’s prepared to release his economic studies for peer review, they’re just promises made by someone who’s having trouble convincing people a casino’s a good idea.”
OLG plans to issue a request for proposals in the coming months, with a decision on location expected next year. Possible sites in downtown Toronto include Exhibition Place, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and the Port Lands. Gambling giant MGM has indicated its interest in building a casino in the GTA is contingent on a downtown waterfront location.
Board of Trade president Carol Wilding says members of her organization hold differing opinions on the casino proposal, with the board aiming to develop a set of criteria to help “guide” decision makers.
“This is not a simple proposition and there are no simple answers,” Ms. Wilding said.
Businessman Mark McEwan, who owns a string of restaurants in downtown Toronto, welcomed the concept of a local casino and entertainment complex, saying it would spur spinoff benefits for area businesses and provide a much-needed “shot in the arm” for Toronto.
“To say no to $3-billion to 4-billion in investment in our core would be probably one of the biggest mistakes we ever make,” Mr. McEwan said.
Mr. Godfrey is also the president and CEO of Postmedia Network Inc., the parent company of the National Post.
National Post
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