Thousands of people will hear the tingling of the roulette ball, the shouting and general hoopla at the craps table, the bells and whistles from the bank of slots games, and the general atmosphere of gaming at its best as the new casino in the town of Peterborough, Ontario gets set to welcome visitors from many points east and west in Canada to the casino which will open for gaming on October 15.

The casino will be relatively small when compared with some of the massive casinos and resorts that have been opened in North America and around the world in recent years. Nevertheless, it is set to serve an urban and semi-urban population form Niagara to Montreal.

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The casino will cover about 50,000 square feet. Its owners are calling it a full service casino by which we assume they mean that it will have all of the more well-known casino games. The complex will also feature two restaurants, one of which is a large buffet style restaurant.

Midway between the Big Urban Centers

The owners hope that its location in Peterborough, about halfway between Ottawa and Toronto and easy driving from Montreal will draw Canadians away from online gaming. One of the big draws in online gaming is the many online casino bonuses players can access almost any day of the week.

A land based casino is more limited in the types of incentives they can offer players but the new Peterborough casino is banking on a large volume of gaming choices plus ancillary amenities such as the restaurants, pubs, plus the amenities offered by the hotel being built next to the casino.

Part of a Chain Yet a Local Hotel

The hotel is part of the Hampton Inn and Suites chain. It will have a modest 100 suites, conference and meeting center, pool, and gym. As such, the casino and hotel taken together constitute an Integrated Resort of sorts albeit not one that could compete with the big Integrated Resorts such as the ones recently opened in Atlantic City and the Catskill Mountains.

Since Peterborough is centrally located and an easy drive from Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, most gamers are expected to come for the weekend or for the one day.

Not Always Smooth Sailing

A local group opposed to the casino called No Casino Peterborough strove mightily to prevent it from being built. Roy Brady led the group. As far back as 2015, he went to court to try to get the casino stopped or at least stalled. At the time, he claimed that the city had violated local law by holding a closed door meeting to discuss the casino.

At that closed door meeting, the city council chose an area in the southern part of Peterborough to be the site of the future casino. Brady also cited the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act which may apply in this case because the mayor, Daryl Bennett and his brother own a lot of land near the site of the casino.

Brady and his group lost their fight and the casino is set to open but he says that he will continue to keep a close eye on the casino. He said, “We’re going to make sure it’s run properly. That labor is treated properly. That social help that’s promised is followed. So the casino needs to run properly according to the law and morality.”

The mention of morality likely points to the main cause of opposition to the casino. Local casino operators have faced such opposition groups in many places in North America. Local residents are often concerned about the type of people the casino might attract. It is up to the casino that the patrons stay sober, that responsible gaming protocols are followed, and that security is kept at a high standard.

If families are to come to the hotel for the pool and other family friendly amenities, they need to be sure that there will not be activity at the casino that would offend them or that they would rather their children not be exposed to.

Hoping to Put Peterborough on the Map

Every year thousands of people drive past Peterborough on their way east or west. There has been a longstanding complaint that the city doesn’t have enough hotel rooms for people who want to stay overnight. This has been a supply and demand issue for years.

The new hotel will have only 100 suites so it is not clear how much it can alleviate the shortfall in the number of hotel rooms available to travelers. Still, by being close to the casino—across the street as it were—many hope that the combination of a new hotel, part of a chain with a good reputation, and having facilities for conventions and smaller business meetings, plus a pool for families might make it more convenient for travelers to stay overnight in Peterborough.

Financial Boon to the City

In addition to increased revenue from everything travelers who stop and stay the night buy, the city will receive about $6 million annually from slots games. The mayor has promised to use the money for appropriate projects serving the community.

New Jobs

The casino will employ 300 people. As with all new projects, there are workers who fear that even as the casino hires many new employees, they will lose their jobs at Kawartha Downs Harness Racing Track. At this time, the union had secured promises that 30 people employed at Kawartha Downs in food and drink services and in security would keep their jobs.

The race track has been losing customers for years and faces closure even without the casino. The casino may speed up the process so the workers at the race track are concerned. As for the many people who came looking for a job when the casino held a job fair, the new casino may be the start of new long term gainful employment.

There may be another conflict of interest involved as the company that owns the casino, Great Canadian Gaming, had taken over operation of slots machines at Kawartha Race Track from Ontario Lottery and Gaming shortly before Great Canadian Gaming announced its intention to build a casino in Peterborough.

A Newsworthy Item

It is truly newsworthy that a casino and hotel complex is being built in a drive by town in southern Ontario. That the town is halfway between Niagara and Montreal is one of the reasons that people usually drive past and also, ironically, the reason the hotel and casino are being built there.

The company chosen to take over the gambling at Kawartha Downs is willing to spend nearly $50 million to renovating and developing a casino in the Peterborough area, but it’s too early for that company to say where the facility will go.

In the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s plan to hand over the operation of gaming sites to private companies, Ontario Gaming East LP is the first to be announced as a successful bidder. The company is signing off on a deal to operate gambling sites in the Peterborough area, as well as in the Kingston and Belleville areas.

The largest shareholder in that partnership is the British Columbia-based Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which already operates a number of gambling facilities in Western and Eastern Canada.

The deal cost Ontario Gaming East LP about $50 million — $37.4 million for the purchase price and $13 million to cover working capital.

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Chuck Keeling, vice president of stakeholder relations and responsible gaming for Great Canadian Gaming, says the deal will become official and the operation of gambling at Kawartha Downs will change hands in early 2016.

The company is aiming to have a new, or expanded facility ready to open by the fall of 2017.

The City of Peterborough and the Township of Cavan Monaghan have each expressed interest in hosting a casino. Host municipalities receive a portion of gambling revenue, which has provided the Township with nearly $50 million in non-tax gaming revenue since the slots opened at the racetrack.

In an effort to streamline the process for the incoming casino operator, previous Peterborough city councillors pre-selected three potential areas for a new gambling facility, including in the east end on vacant land at the city’s edge and near The Parkway and Highway 115 connection in the city’s south end.

Kawartha Slots has been very good to Cavan Monaghan Township - to the tune of $47.5 million

Cavan Monaghan Township council has previously suggested the facility at Kawartha Downs should stay where it is and could be expanded to include table games and more slot machines.

“We are honoured and thrilled to have been chosen,” Mr. Keeling says of the OLG’s decision to enter into a partnership. “In terms of greater details about the future…those are conversations and discussions we will have at the municipal level and with the OLG.”

Currently, there are 454 slot machines at Kawartha Downs. Under the OLG’s guidelines, about 150 more could be added at that facility or in a newly-built casino. The OLG will also permit up to 180 table positions in a Peterborough-area casino, which works out to about 30 live table games.

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Mr. Keeling says Great Canadian Gaming has experience operating small-scale and large-scale casinos including the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, British Columbia, which boasts a 1,000-seat theatre, a hotel and restaurants.

Mr. Keeling says the facility is much larger than what the company is planning for the Peterborough area, although complimentary features for a new casino aren’t off the table.

“Anything that drives traffic is good for our business,” he says.

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The transition agreement Ontario Gaming East LP will sign with the OLG lays out customary closing conditions that will need to be satisfied in order for the 20-year operating deal go ahead.

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This includes a requirement for the service provider to retain employees for a period of no less than 12 months in their current position and geographic location and to provide eligible employees with benefits and a registered pension plan.