Newton Bingo Hall to become a Mini-Casino !
You read it in the news and here it is: the Newton Square Bingo Country Hall will get a 25 millions grant to expand its facilities.
Following a late night Monday hearing, the City of Surrey (British Colombia, Canada) approved the redevelopment. The grant will allows the Bingo’s premises to bring it around 150 new slot machines.
The Newton Bingo Hall is operated by Boardwalk Gaming Center. This game operator is the leader in Canada for Bingos. It owns and operated 14 bingo gaming facilities all over Canada. Four of them are located in British Colombia.
In 2008, this Bingo operator received more than 3 million guests in its facilities all over the country. Besides, in 2007, Boardwalk paid out over 50 millions dollars in various prize money. It also helped some local charitable organizations with over 20 millions.
So the Monday night hearing was controversial for 2 things:
first, more than 300 people showed up. Many was there to oppose the plan because of various negative effects such an establishment will have on the neighborhood.
Then, there were the supporters. They were a lot more than the opponents ! Lots of them were representing charities groups depending on the annual 4.5 millions of dollars generated by the Bingo Country Hall each year. Also they were people representing service clubs and sports groups.
It was reported 274 organizations in Surrey – including Parent Advisory Councils, Scouts clubs, sports leagues, food banks and community hall associations – rely on revenues from gaming.
The owners said they lost over 30% of gaming revenues over the last years and needed that expansion to keep profits coming in. Boardwalk, the owners, wants to renovate the existing bingo hall and turn it into a mini-casino. It will be a facility that retains bingo as its marquee game and adds a variety of additional entertainment options including slot machines. It will include food and beverage facilities and live entertainment.
So at the end of the hearing, the mayor agreed with the supporters and the city approved the redevelopment by a vote of 5 to 4.
Let us quote the mayor, Diane Watts, : “I wish there was another way that we could fund these charities without using gaming revenue. However … there is no other choice, and I could just not turn my back on all those charities,”
Or like a counselor told a local newspaper: “he had been wavering” on slots, but decided help for needy charities outweighed the negatives. ”
Construction for the expanded facility will begin early 2010.
Last thing: two others gaming facilities are waiting Surrey approval.
The first one would be a 80-storey development valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars located near the King George SkyTrain Station while the second one would be a convention center, an hotel and a casino.
Tags: Bingo, Boardwalk Gaming Center, British-Colombia, Canada, canada gambling, Slots machine
