Horse Racing Alberta, a nonprofit created by the province of Alberta, Canada, recently selected Century Casino out of seven other applicants to build an “A” grade horse racetrack, Century Mile, and a casino in Edmonton in Leduc County, on land owned by the Edmonton International Airport. The venue will replace the Northlands track, which is scheduled to close soon, and will offer the only mile-long track in Western Canada. Century Casino operates several casinos and racetracks in North America, including Century Downs in Calgary.
Century Casinos spokesperson Paul Ryneveld, racing manager at the Century Downs track, said construction will begin next year and be completed in fall 2018. “Our proposal graded the highest out of the criteria that they had. Not only was it about what the place looked like, but financial aspects and timelines for construction.” Ryneveld added Capital Mile’s location will tap into an underserved market. “It’s very similar to what we did with Century Downs,” he said, noting an outlet mall is under construction nearby.
Ryneveld said, “I know in Calgary, Century Downs is actually ahead of 2015, and that is overcoming a huge opening month of April 2015, and we’ve since gone ahead of last year, so we’ve seen improvement in a down economy. Gaming is resilient in some cases. In boom or bust it doesn’t really change much. I believe what we see in this market here is people are spending their money closer to home and not going to the States or going on extravagant vacations. There’s plenty of gaming opportunities in the Edmonton region, but you throw in the horse racing component and when the mall comes in, it becomes a destination.”
