The city of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada has filed an objection with the B.C. Lottery Corporation over BCLC’s approval of a casino resort in Delta, slightly more than three miles away. Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said, “The bottom line is we have given notice of objection to B.C. Lotteries, and, once we’ve done that, it sends into motion some kind of a dispute resolution process. We have previously told Delta and the lottery corporation of our concerns, so I don’t think our objection and the substance of them will be a surprise. They knew we would object and would receive our notice of objection.”
Earlier the Delta city council voted 4-2 to give final approval of the $70 million casino-hotel complex, to be developed and operated by Gateway Casinos and Entertainment Ltd. Gateway officials said the project would create hundreds jobs and generate $1.5 million-$3 million for the city of Delta. Construction is expected to begin this fall and be completed in late 2020. The project includes a casino, 5-story hotel and restaurants.
Delta Counsellor Bruce McDonald said, “They want to invest $75 million in your community. They want to employ 700 people and they are prepared to make modifications as we’ve requested.”
But Brodie said the location, near the intersection of Highway 99 and Highway 17A, is all wrong. “It’s in a car-oriented destination without any real public transportation and without any likely development around it because it’s on agricultural land. If they do develop on it, then it will impact on the Agricultural Land Reserve,” he said.
Brodie also expressed concern the new casino will cannibalize players from the River Rock Casino in his city.
