Star: Casino eyed as city saviour

[JasonParis]

"Atlantic City was basically a slum when they started to build the casino," he said. When the money pours in, so do jobs, development and the infrastructure. Gambling towns are rich towns, he says.

It's sort of rich describing Atlantic City as rich.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

"Where does that development come from? For sure, it comes from the local community," he said. Every million dollars spent on gambling is a million dollars not spent on furniture or food or industries that create non-gambling jobs.

Indeed, but right now, that dollar from a gambler in Toronto is spent in Ramara, Niagara Falls, Windsor or whatever. Not Toronto.

AoD

 

[JasonParis]

The Toronto entertainment industry has also taken a big hit since OLG opened their casinos as many touring acts (mainly catering to our parent's generation) don't hit Toronto anymore and play Rama, Windsor and Niagara instead. While a Toronto casino wouldn't bring them back to the Hummingbird Centre at least some dollars would be back in the 416.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Darkstar:

I think there is a lot of controversy surrounding that one - basically giving out tickets for free to lure vistors to the casinos.

Come to think of it, that AHA centre under L Tower could make a very nice, if small location.

AoD

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Having been to Rama, Niagara Falls, and Woodbine all in the past couple of weeks, I do like the idea of not having a casino in Toronto. Woodbine Live! is great but I hope they keep the focus on general entertainment rather than gaming tables...stores and theatres and rock climbing walls and manicured lawns and fountains and condos are all perfect additions. Put that sort of thing here, not Downsview or stranded out in the portlands.

A point may come with Woodbine that it will have almost everything a Vegas megaresort has except roulette tables, in which case we might as well just add them. Yet, a swanky, glitzy, classy (hey, everyone loves "classy") casino on the waterfront would be cool. Yonge & Queen's Quay would make a great spot......oops.

One casino, no matter how classy it is, won't attract much in the way in the way of non-greater golden horseshoe tourism, so it really will raise municipal revenue just by sucking money out of the half of the GTA that's, shall we say, 'financially challenged.' Maybe people will stop smoking to pay for their gambling addiction, thus saving health care costs and triggering tax rebates, allowing them to gamble more.

 

[wyliepoon]

In light of the TTC budget crisis, a casino or casinos in Toronto might be a good thing. Instead of Chinatown buses ferrying gamblers out of the city to Rama and Niagara, we might see them run crosstown between Scarborough and Markham to Rexdale or downtown... essentially a Chinese-run transit system rivalling the TTC!

 

[scarberiankhatru]

But that takes half the fun out of casinos...if you're basically gonna sit at home and gamble, you might as well just buy lottery tickets or play online. There must be some kind of 'Hong Kong'ers travelling to Macau' parallel.

 

[wyliepoon]

There must be some kind of 'Hong Kong'ers travelling to Macau' parallel.

Actually Hong Kong people do gamble in their own backyard. The only major form of government-allowed gambling in HK is horse racing, which not coincidentally is also the city's number one sport. On race days fans literally climb over each other just to get into the racetracks. Shatin Racecourse has its own KCR commuter rail station, open only on race days, and is the only station in the system that is not open to minors.

For Chinese people, casinos and racecourses are really "if you build it, they will come". Unfortunately for Woodbine it doesn't really promote itself in the Chinese community (aside from off-track wagering and a small fan club). If it did something like offering crosstown bus service to Chinese malls in the east end, I'm sure there would be droves of people lining up to take the buses.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Well, there's the parallel and the precedent...stay at home for the racetrack, make a day out of the out-of-town casinos.