Councillors are about to vote right now on sending Vancouver’s super-jumbo casino to public hearing.
But they have a few questions about its future operation: Money-laundering. How much money will go to non-profits, who were promised 33 per cent of the profits in a time long ago and now only get 10 per cent. Is it a good thing or a bad thing, in general? (Suzanne Anton said she would have liked to see more assessment of this in the staff report.) Who will pay for the policing? What impact will it have on the city’s other casinos. (Some of those are outlined in my story in today’s Globe.)
They’re not going to vote against holding the public hearing. But they will be talking at length about wanting answers to those questions as it unrolls.
10 responses so far ↓
1 The Fourth Horseman // Jan 18, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Yes, please, too many questions; not enough answers.
2 Morven // Jan 18, 2011 at 3:20 pm
By great good fortune, Ms. Bula has posted a lead story on casinos.
Good.
If our elected representatives at city hall want to redeem themselves, in my view, they should be asking some very pointed questions on siting, operation and supervision of these casinos which operate as if ordinary municipal zoning, regulatory compliance and social responsibility did not exist – or so it seems.
Several weeks ago, the local CBC TV news flagged issues around money transfer arrangements in these casinos.
These were serious questions.
We were left with flaccid responses by the provincial regulator, and announcements that bordered on sophistry by the casino PR types. In particular in one opinion piece in the Vancouver Sun, the CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association deflected criticism by blaming the police – who are only there to administer the law.
Evidently, without anyone spelling it out, the casino industry wants to turn part of downtown Vancouver into a destination casino/entertainment complex which in itself fuels demand for high rise development and easy transport access.
This (gaming) is a global industry closely linked with global commercial real estate.
The casino industry, though they might be loath to admit it, has a social licence to operate. They, or their investors have to know that they have an obligation in spirit if not in kind to benefit the host communities. Breach that spirit and you are in trouble (as many mining and forest companies in BC learnt to their great cost).
If the host community is to have respect, grudging or not, for the casino industry, some transparency and accountability is needed from the casino industry, and the provincial and federal regulators.
Just to be clear, Canada has international obligations on countering money laundering, which is itself but one step removed from terrorism financing. Casinos are now required to have qualified compliance officers present, a written compliance policy, proper corporate governance and their records have to be accessible.
Ontario, for instance, as I understand it, posts police officers in casinos to vet questionable transactions. We in BC, as far as I can tell, do not post police officers in casinos and it is extremely difficult to find out exactly what is the provincial compliance strategy.
Casinos are not as far as I can tell, accorded the privilege of self regulation.
But does the provincial regulator provide statistics on audits, compliance penalties or sanctions? I challenge you to find these on any provincial web site.
Casinos, the associated real estate development and the associated video gaming industry are elements of Vancouver’s economic framework. They will not go away, and nor should they.
But the least the casino industry and the provincial regulators can do is to identify their compliance strategy, identify their responsibilities and demonstrate that they are good citizens in Vancouver.
The last thing Vancouver wants is to be identified (especially to our American friends) as a haven for money laundering. It took Vancouver about a decade to diminish the sleazy image of Vancouver as a haven for mining scams (not completely vanquished I will admit) but that persistence cost many jobs in the mining industry over a decade (there were also some other factors at work).
My argument – have an open and transparent process for casino regulation.
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3 Sean Bickerton // Jan 18, 2011 at 5:54 pm
The proposed casino expansion will triple the number of tables and addictive slot machines from the number currently in Edgewater Casino. Triple.
Instead of a locally-owned business responsive to community concerns as Edgewater was, we will have a massive Vegas gambling corporation that has made absolutely no effort to reach out to the local community or address our many concerns.
They are also contributing no local amenities other than the Smithe Street extension designed to deliver traffic to their door and not connect to Quebec as originally promised.
They have made no provision to provide daycare for their own shift workers, downloading this cost onto the local community when daycare slots are rare and heavily subsidized by the city and non-profits.
And finally, we have all seen reports on TV about the failure of the program to help protect problem gamblers. Yet the staff report indicates this casino will impact nearly 25,000 Vancouverites with that devastating, family-destroying problem.
The RCMP have raised very serious concerns about money-laundering and the failure of existing casinos to report large cash transactions as required.
There is no need for this massive expansion of gambling in downtown Vancouver, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. This huge behemoth in our midst will change the character of our city forever.
My simple suggestion is to keep Edgewater the same size and allow the new owners to move it nearer the stadium. It already makes millions of dollars every year for the owners and provides $10 million to city coffers annually as well.
4 Sean Bickerton // Jan 18, 2011 at 5:59 pm
I should add that a broad-based coalition is opposing the casino expansion and we will be hosting a public forum on February 7 to debate the merits of this proposal. Save the Date!
Our group includes the False Creek Residents Association, Strathcona Residents Association, Grandview Woodland Area Council, BC Charitable Gaming Association representing charities and non-profits, and the Alliance for the Arts in Vancouver. Others are joining us and I encourage anyone interested in joining our fight to contact us at
Website: http://dontgamblevancouver.wordpress.com
5 Higgins // Jan 18, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Just listened on 1130 AM, to Penny Ballem on gambling at Edgewater.
(wording may not be exactly the same but the message is)
She said : ‘ We are trying to attract the International gamblers…to Vancouver (versus the local ones)’!
She ended with: ‘Probably, they will take their gambling problems with them when they leave…’!!!
No wonder she made a neutral statement. She knows what gambling does to people…LOL
YES Penny! That’s why the city pays you 300 big ones a year. For your guess work! You are unrecoverable, lady!
And that’s why, Vision Vancouver who propped you there, has got to go.
6 The Fourth Horseman // Jan 18, 2011 at 10:43 pm
Oh. My. God.
7 Morven // Jan 18, 2011 at 11:27 pm
A dilemma for any casino (and it’s regulators) is whether the mythical international gamblers are here because of the smoked salmon or because regulations are lax (not lox).
Perhaps the city manager can elaborate.
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8 Glissando Remmy // Jan 19, 2011 at 12:38 am
The Thought of The Night
“My name is Ballem – Penny Ballem…and it’s been six months since my last Crapshoot game!”
The New Edgewater Casino Royale is too much for One Penny ‘These are my credentials…’ Ballem .
Gregor Robertson is Penny Ballem.
Geoff Meggs is Penny Ballem.
Raymond Louie is Penny Ballem.
Andrea Reimer is Penny Ballem.
Tim Stevenson is Penny Ballem.
Heather Deal is Penny Ballem.
George Chow is Penny Ballem.
Kerry Jang is Penny Ballem.
David Cadman is Penny Ballem.
Ellen Woodsworth is Penny Ballem.
Suzan Anton is…the New Secret Weapon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEnoKqiGJFI
Join the Edgewater Casino Royale Fun Movement!
We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.
9 Deacon Blue // Jan 20, 2011 at 12:23 am
There are just so many sources of irresistible tax money… towers, casinos, casinos in towers!
10 Michael // Jan 24, 2011 at 7:31 am
Downtown Vancouver has become the dumping ground for sports stadiums, drug addicts, casinos,…by this I mean that no neighbouring city shoulders as much as Vancouver does for the burden, financial and otherwise, of the infrastructure and related costs. Having two giant stadiums downtown and now a casino triple the size of the existing one means that Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, North and West Vancouver, the Tri-Cities, and others can sit back and let Vancouver deal with all the issues arising from these projects. They don’t shoulder the cost; we do. They don’t have to deal with the traffic; we do. BC Place may be, as their ads state, “for all British Columbians,” but its Vancouver that has to deal with the problems it creates or exacerbates. The new casino will not enhance the city, and the subsequent increase in residential taxes will reflect its true cost to those of us living in this city.
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