The future of two local sports venues is inextricably tied with gambling.
First, the biggest. BC Place Stadium, renovated for $514 million in public money, could be getting a casino attached to its west side after all.
But what is Las Vegas-based Paragon Gaming’s end game?
BC Pavilion Corp. (PavCo) and Paragon came to a new lease agreement in March that was announced, then denounced, by then-PavCo chairman Peter Fassbender while he was running for the BC Liberals and before he became education minister.
PavCo would still own the land, Paragon would still be the leaseholder, we’re told on the Site10a.com website that was registered with no fanfare on June 19. The 70-year term (for “an estimated” $3 million a year) is shorter than the 99-year lease that Fassbender talked about. The lease payments are half what was originally contemplated under the original plan for Western Canada’s biggest casino, which was shot down by Vancouver city council in April 2011.
The original plan contemplated a $500 million casino/hotel complex, with two Marriott hotels. Paragon claims the new complex would still have two hotels, but is not showing any architectural drawings for now.
City council approved a relocation of the existing size licence in April 2011 and rezoned the site in November 2011. Paragon is now playing its hand close to the vest on the question of who would own, operate and/or bankroll the new Edgewater.
Paragon defaulted on a $111 million loan at River Cree Casino in Edmonton in April 2012 after a dispute with the Alberta government First Nations Development Fund. Paragon is ending its partnership with the Enoch Cree First Nation, which will take full control of the casino.
Paragon CEO Diana Bennett and president Scott Menke are the new management team contracted to turn around the struggling Riviera Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas.
For Edgewater, Paragon is seeking “partners.” Spokeswoman Tamara Hicks admitted they are in the gambling business. When the city’s Development Permit Board unanimously decided July 15 to allow Edgewater to stay at the Plaza of Nations until the end of 2016, Paragon vice-president John Cahill declined to talk about whether one of those prospective partners is Gateway Casinos.
Gateway is controlled by the Catalyst Capital Group of Toronto, whose managing director Gabriel de Alba is Gateway’s executive chairman. Catalyst founder Newton Glassman is also a Gateway director.
De Alba met with Deputy Premier Rich Coleman on February 5, according to Coleman’s daily agenda, which was obtained via Freedom of Information. Glassman and de Alba met with Coleman a week later on February 12. Coleman was both minister responsible for BC Lottery Corp. and PavCo until becoming the natural gas minister after the election. Coleman’s office won’t comment on the reasons for or the outcome of the meetings. Glassman’s spokesman Marc Budgell said he “will not be available for comment.”
Races reduced
Across town at Hastings Racecourse, the 2013 meet has been reduced by five days.
The June 29 race date was cancelled with two days’ notice “due to a shortage of entries.” The July 5 Friday Night Live racing night was also cancelled.
The July 26 and August 3 cards were cancelled in a July 10 news release that cited a shortage of entries and a flu virus affecting some horses. The latest cancellation was confirmed July 17, but the July 20 scratch “may possibly be made up” later in the season.
Great Canadian Gaming has another season left on its lease with the City of Vancouver. Despite Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Mario Gutierrez breathing new life into the old track in 2012, it didn’t result in better royalties for city coffers. The Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch reported the city received $1,214,566.60 from Hastings for the year ended March 31, 2013, a decrease of almost $56,000 from the 2012 fiscal year.
When the 600 slot machines were approved in 2004, city staff forecast up to $6 million a year in royalties. The forecasts were way off. The total royalties to date are a combined $6.34 million. •
