Triple Properties in Toronto, Canada announced it will seek a municipal permit for Durham Live in Pickering, Ontario. Ontario Gaming GTA LP, the service provider for the Greater Toronto Area gaming bundle, confirmed the project will include its Durham Region casino, as well as an indoor water park, film studios, hotels and convention center. OGGLP will relocate its existing Casino Ajax when the Durham Live casino opens in late 2019.
OGGLP is a partnership between Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which operates 25 gaming, entertainment and hospitality facilities across Canada and the U.S., and Toronto-based Brookfield Business Partners.
Durham Live is expected to create 10,000 local jobs, including 1,700 new jobs at the casino resort and the 300 now employed at Casino Ajax. The new facility is forecast to generate $625 million in annual tax revenue. Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan said, “We are thrilled to invest the casino revenues back into our greater community. Pickering will share up to 30 percent of its revenues with the Region of Durham, and we suggest that a portion of these funds be earmarked for social housing in order to secure matching funding from the senior levels of government.”
Ryan also suggested sharing up to 2 percent of revenue with the local quarter horse industry. That could be response to a joint statement issued by the Ajax Council and the Quarter Horse Racing Industry, declaring they will challenge any proposal to close the Casino Ajax and Ajax Downs quarter horse racetrack. The statement said Ajax received no prior notice the Ajax Casino would close if Durham Live is built. The statement reads, “We are astounded that even our local (Liberal) MPP Joe Dickson had nothing to say regarding this significant announcement in his riding. We will call on Premier Kathleen Wynne, Minster of Finance Charles Sousa and our MPP to provide justification by completing an independent third-party review of the decision to relocate the Ajax Casino.”
OGGLP was selected by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation in August 2017 following a competitive procurement process to operate three gaming facilities in the Greater Toronto Area, now branded as Casino Woodbine, Casino Ajax and Great Blue Heron Casino, with the exclusive right to operate the casinos for a minimum of 22 years.
Also in Ontario, the group Casino Free Sudbury, led by businessman Tom Fortin, said it will appeal to the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal if the Sudbury city council approves the rezoning required for Gateway Casinos and Entertainment to build a $48 million casino in the Kingsway Entertainment District. The casino would replace the slots operated in Azilda at the former Sudbury Downs. The Sudbury city council planning committee approved the rezoning last month; now the full council must approve the rezoning.
Casino Free Sudbury said to help pay for the legal costs of the appeal, it will raise $210,000 from Sudbury’s business community, and another $80,000 from the general public on its GoFundMe page. More than $11,000 has been raised so far.
The Sudbury and District Medical Society, which represents Sudbury’s doctors, endorsed Casino Free Sudbury’s plans to appeal the rezoning. In a joint statement, Dr. Sanjiv Mathur, president, and Dr. Dennis Reich, vice-president, said, “Casinos are all about increasing revenues for the government but at what cost? The OLG acknowledges the huge risk of problem gambling, but has barely addressed the suggestions from health units. This is because a whopping 36 per cent of the OLG income is derived from problem gamblers. They do not come close to financially compensating the community for the increase in demand for social work, case managers, counsellors, nurses, physicians and police. This is why the Sudbury and District Medical Society endorses Casino Free Sudbury’s legal appeal of the casino and has encouraged physicians to fund the campaign.”
In addition, 40 faith leaders signed a joint letter last month opposing a new casino. They fear it could lead to increased “family breakdown, depression, addiction, bankruptcies and crime. We represent diverse faith communities with unique perspectives, principles, sacred texts, traditions and teachings that form the basis of our opposition to expanded gambling. We are unified in our position that gambling is contrary to the ethical norms of our traditions because it negatively impacts our communities and the wider public. We are deeply concerned that the relocation and expansion of the casino to the Kingsway will have a serious and disproportionately negative impact on vulnerable communities in close proximity to the proposed Kingsway location.”
