Please read “A New Grub Street for Vancouver” by Crawford Killian from The Tyee. Instead of artists gravitating to out-of-the-way low-rent areas, the city would have lively, pedestrian friendly, and creative streets. Of course, given the climate in governments, this is unlikely, but we can dream, can’t we?

This might be a good trade-off for the proposed giant casino. Let’s bet on our artists and musicians instead of the roulette tables.

AABC has continued to be active on the issue of a mega casino for downtown Vancouver.

The rezoning report and application has been referred to public hearing starting  on March 7rh at 7.30 p.m. in the council chambers, 3rd floor, City Hall.

The hearing continues: Saturday, April 9th, 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.
For full and up-to-date information, please go to:
Vancouver Not Vegas

Meanwhile, we recommend reading our posts, from January 2010, on the issue of BC Place and the new retractable roof. We hope you’ll find these interesting:

/letters-re-bc-place/

/the-story-of-bc-place-stadium/

/bc-place-rumour/

/land-lift-and-bc-place/

You might also find the following interesting. It is an article we received from Savannah Walling (Vancouver Moving Theatre) last August.

BC PLACE ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX
The New Downtown Eastside Casino

This will be the largest master planned entertainment style project ever seen in BC: the largest sports, exhibition and entertainment venue of its kind and the only legalized gambling venue in downtown Vancouver. A $450 million dollar megaresort and casino with 1000 slot machines and two hotel complexes will be added to the edge of the DTES neighbourhood to “anchor its new entertainment epicentre”, BC premiere Gordon Campbell confirmed.  The facility will be run by Las Vegas based Paragon Gaming, who have a 70 year lease.

According to the Paragon Gaming Website, the complex will become Vancouver’s new entertainment epicentre, creating an overall experience that allows for sport, entertainment and culture in a dramatic waterfront setting – a must-see destination for arriving tourists and an “adult entertainment opportunity” that provides residents with a compelling destination in the heart of the city.  “This (is the )first development of its kind to offer so many diverse and integrated elements in walking distance of General Motors  Place Sports Arena, home to the National Hockey Leagues and Canucks”.

“We see this (as an) opportunity to not just spruce up, but actually create a whole new vibrant area all around BC Place,” BC Minster of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Krueger said. (BC News March 12, 2010) “During the Olympics, Winter Games, the streets of Vancouver were alive with the Olympic Spirit – and we hope the entertainment complex will capture some of that spirit”, said Premier Campbell. “This East Downtown Vancouver District needs this development to revitalize the community”, said the government officials, and increased night life venues for the downtown Vancouver on land owned by the province, not the city.  With the dream to turn the area into a gambling and tourist magnet, the complex will be the final piece in creating an entertainment destination in Downtown Vancouver to increase tourism.

The entertainment centre will be located in a 700,000 square foot parking lot between BC Place Stadium and the end of the Cambie Street Bridge. The new complex will replace the Edgewater Casino (located in the old Expo 86 BC Pavilion) whose lease expires in three years (2013) – it might end up closing before the new casino opens. (The current Edgewater Casino has not been doing well, due at least in part to problems of access and parking.)

Subject to city approval of a re-zoning application, construction will start in 2011 (with a potential completion date of 2013).  The goal is to move through the rezoning process with public hearings over the next few months.  The city has limited power as the land in question in owned by the province, not by the city.  The city wants a “green urban casino” with high quality design.

The 70 year lease by Paragon for the casino land in addition to the $6 million annual lease will pay part of the retractable roof project.  In addition, PavCo has a 40 year taxpayer funded loan that is supposed to be defrayed by lease revenue, advertising and events.

As part of the development, the province is remodelling BC Place at $458 million. The retractable roof will allow 40 more nights of BC Place use, mainly in the summer, reduce energy costs by ¼ and extend life of stadium by 40 years. It’s the largest cable-supported retractable roof of its kind in the world.

This is what it the 680,000 square foot entertainment complex will contain:

• 100,000 square feet of gaming facilities (3 x size of Edgewater) with 24-hour gambling options and space for 1000-1500 slot machines and 150 table games;
• 2 international hotels (620 hotel rooms);
• 5 restaurants (from a signature chef restaurant to new age organic boutique)
• A 25,000 square foot rooftop linking the two hotels (providing a swimming pool, rooftop deck and meeting place);
• The casino’s high-limit gaming area will connect to a separate concourse for the stadium’s planned luxury boxes;
• Conference rooms, meeting rooms and retail stores;
• A salon, sap and exercise gym
• Street level access for casino, hotel and restaurants
• A new mini-plaza at Expo and New Smith Street;
• There are plans for a 22 foot office building next to GM place

Campbell views the project as a job generator for Vancouver and the Province.  The project is expected to generate 8400 direct and indirect jobs (including 3200 construction jobs).  The province expects to earn up to $130 million per year from the casino operations.  The city’s share of the earnings is unclear. (The city gets 10% of the profits from Edgewater Casino and a second casino at Hastings Park (both roughly half of what was originally projected) – earning a total of $5 million per year. Currently Edgewater provides $250,000 in inner city funding,

Canada recently loosened visa policies with China to boost tourism and expects to increase its Chinese visitation by 50% next year, which could create a custom market for Paragon’s casinos.

BC Place Entertainment Complex is a joint effort between the government owned and operated PavCo Development Team and Paragon Gaming Co., who operate the Edgewater Casino at the Plaza of Nations.   PavCo is the crown corporation that operates BC Place Stadium.

Paragon Development Ltd. Is one of North America’s leading destination developers, with a special emphasis on gaming-based destinations.  They operate casinos in Western Canada including River Cree Resort outside Edmonton. Paragon is headed by Diane Bennett, who worked as an executive in her father’s Circus Circus Enterprises.  He father first began marketing casino destinations to families and built Excalibur and Luxor, creating the foundation of what became the Mandalay Resort Group.

FYI

BC is the first jurisdiction in North America to legalize and regulate online casino games.  Richard Coleman, the Minister of Housing and Social Development, is responsible for the BC Lottery Commission. He is also in charge of the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch. Mr. Coleman is a former member of the RCMP and a security specialist.

In July 2010, at a cost of over $7.3 million, the BC Lottery Commission re-launched an expanded and high-profile version of the gambling website, offering over 75 new online games to BC residents including bingo, lotteries, betting and casino games.  (The platform was provided by the UK gambling soft wear provider OpenBet.)  Within 24 hours, the site was shut down because of privacy glitches that allowed some gamers to bet with other people’s money.  These seem to have been addressed.

Just before the launch, the weekly betting limit was raised from $120 per week to $9,999 per week. (All transactions of over $10,000 must be reported to the federal government because of concerns about money laundering.)   The BC Lottery Corporation said they decided to raise the limits after their experts in responsible gaming indicated that allowing people to set their own limits allows them to take responsibility for their choices.

In 2009, the provincial government cut the funding for problem gaming programs by 34%.

There is a general problem of casinos not complying promptly on reporting large or suspicious transactions.  BC Lottery Commission is the only provincial gambling commission to be fined for failing to report suspicious or large scale transactions at casinos.  The same week their online gaming site crashed, BC Lottery Commission was penalized by FINTRAC with $670,000 in fines for over 1000 breaches of regulations on reporting suspicious financial activity. FINTRAC (the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada) is the federal agency that tracks criminal laundering. They require casinos to report all transactions of $10,000 within 24 hours, even if a customer makes several transactions up to the limit.

Sergeant David Grey of the RCMP’s Integrated Proceeds Crime Unit says police are hearing more and more about casinos as money laundering venues.  The November 2009 report from FINTRAC says 20% of money laundering and terrorist financing cases happen in casinos: 50% are drug trade profits; 1/5 is by organized criminals (bike gangs, street gangs, and international gangs).  70% of casino money launderers used cash from crime to purchase chips. After minimal play, they turned the chips in for a casino cheque – providing an air of legitimacy to source of funds.

Casino online gambling abuses also include complex computer plots to shut down gaming sites and special computer soft-wear that calculates odds against unsuspecting competitors. (BC Lottery online play does not include games where players compete directly against other players.)

Last year, 8 BC gamblers gambled away more than one million dollars each.  The average loss for BC Lotteries core customers was $800 a year.

Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces are planning to launch online gaming sites.

Asia has become heart of global gambling.  In Macau, the average bet is $40 and VP guests average $10,000 per bet.  In an effort to reduce gambling problems for locals, Singapore charges its citizens and permanent residents $73 per day to enter a casino.

Assembled by Savannah