The British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) seeks to site a second casino in the Greater Victoria area.
View Royal Mayor David Screech opposes a second casino. View Royal is home of the View Royal Casino. Last week he said, “BCLC is very determined, they’re doing it.”
The Great Canadian Gaming Corp., which owns the View Royal Casino, postponed plans to spend $20 million to upgrade the facility when it first learned of the BCLC’s plans.
They’re not doing that because of the uncertainty of a second casino,” Screech said, according to the Goldstream Gazette. Screech said the loss of this renovation would be a “huge loss” for the town and region. He also contends that municipal revenues would be negatively impacted by a second casino.
Chuck Keeling, of Great Canadian Gaming Corp., confirmed those reports.
He told the Gazette “We’ve been looking at a fairly significant redevelopment plan. If there’s going to be a fundamental change to the marketplace, we need to know exactly what that is.”
Officials of the Lottery planned to meet with Screech and other area officials to brief them on details of the second casino proposal.
Factors such as location, population trends, tourism and consumer behavior, are used in determining whether there should be another casino.
At this point the City of Victoria and other local government entities will continue with the evaluation process.
Meanwhile Gateway Casinos & Entertainment has broken grounds on a $25 million casino in Penticton, BC. To be called the Cascades Casino Penticton, it will have 45,000 square feet of gaming floor, two restaurants and entertainment.
It will employ about 150, plus generate 200 temporary construction jobs. Begun last week, construction is expected to take about a year. A groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled for May 13.
Gateway Casinos & Entertainment operates 12 casinos in Canada.
