Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited received a federal loan of $200 million to help kick start its reopening efforts post-coronavirus pandemic. The company operates casinos throughout Canada
The funds, intended to deliver bridge financing to Canada’s largest employers, came from the Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation and the Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility.
The program also provides large employers with access to additional credit in order to preserve jobs impacted by the pandemic.
“Covid-19 closed businesses across Canada, with the hospitality and entertainment sectors severely affected,” Anthony Santo, CEO of Gateway Casinos, said. “It hit our employees and their families and communities hard. The LEEFF financing will support restarting our operations and returning people to work when it is safe and viable to do so.”
Robert Mitchell, a Gateway spokesman, said the money will be spread across Gateway’s operations, according to the Sudbury Star.
“The money helps us with reopening and bringing employees back to work,” he said. “Right now we are working hard on our plans and evaluating the viability of reopening under the stage 3 guidelines and the 50-person capacity restrictions.”
While a reopening date in Sudbury has not been announced, Mitchell said the company is taking several steps to ensure the safety of its customers.
“We have developed extensive health and safety plans for each of our sites, which also includes physical distancing; rigorous cleaning and sanitation measures; and the mandatory use of masks for all individuals entering our gaming sites,” Mitchell said.
Covid-19 closed gaming and casino businesses across Canada in mid-March. While many sectors have reopened, casinos remain closed, taking a toll on employees and their communities, Mitchell said.
“We anticipate using only a small fraction of the facility available and intend to repay the drawn amounts quickly in conjunction with the reopening of our operations,” Gateway said in a statement.
The company hopes to replace the slots with a full casino under an agreement with the provincial government. The project has stalled in part because of legal actions in opposition to the scope of the proposal.
