Canadian Gaming News, Vol. 01, Issue 07 (1994, November)

              Canadian Mews
Volume 2 Issue 7 November 1994
Editorial
Nova Scotia Gets Tense
Nova Scotia's casino programme is under
siege and the ball has now bounced into
the court of the three casino proponents
who made the province's shortlist.
Nova Scotia has been ' flirting' with
casino gaming since the Cameron
government, which was defeated by the
Savage government last year, first said
that casinos were an option. Grand
Casinos was first off- the- mark when, a
year and a half ago, it unveiled sketches of
its proposed four- season casino resort,
along with market, and job creation
projections. We talked with senior
government and business at the time and
their reaction, along with that of the
public, was one of curiosity, and maybe,
disbelief. Many thought Grand had
somehow ' jumped the gun' since the
Cameron government was in its last days,
and no one else seemed to be thinking
about casinos seriously.
Anyway, Nova Scotia already had VLTs
in bars, lounges, and comer stores across
the province. And, what's more, the 70%
1 30% government and retailer split of the
$ 1.5 million in weekly VLT profits
seemed to be leaving everyone with a
comfortable feeling. The much publicized
incident of the husband taking the axe to
a VLT had not yet occurred, and there
were few concerns about restricting
access.
Enter Ontario. While B. C. had charity
casinos, Dawson City had Diamond
Tooth Gerties ( summers since 1971), and
while Manitoba had it's permanent
Crystal Casino since late 1989, these
casinos were not in the Canadian
' mainstream' ( when viewed from the
Toronto media centre), and it was not
until Ontario's Bob Rae, and Treasurer
Floyd Laughren surprised everyone,
including their Cabinet colleagues, by
suddenly announcing that Ontario would
get into the casino business, that
everyone, including Nova Scotia's
opposition Liberal Party, really started
paying attention.
Mindful that in politics you do the
controversial stuff early so that everyone
can forget before the next election, the
new John Savage government, 10 months
into its mandate, and to the surprise of
very few, announced that Nova Scotia
would also get into the casino business.
From the days of Joseph Howe, one of
Canada's most prominent Fathers of
Confederation, until the corruption
plagued John Buchannan administration,
Nova Scotia has always been a very
' political' place. The Savage government,
wanting to set a new tone, and to de-politicize
the selection of its casino
operator, followed Ontario's very
successll example. It asked a committee
of senior officials to do the job.
The committee got off on the wrong foot
by refusing to release the names of those
casinos which had submitted proposals in
response to its RFP. While the rational
for this decision was quite understandable
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the committee was concerned that the
xsino proponents would use the promise of
x casino to leverage competing municipal-llities
into lobbying on their behalf at the
legislature. This would have politicized
: he initiative and compromised the
5overnment's objective.
fie local media, however, spotted a story
md started to write about gag orders and
secretive processes. This played into the
zands of a number of anti- casino groups;
Walter Fitzgerald, who won office as
nayor of Halifax on an anti- casino ticket
ind takes ofice shortly, and Vince
Maclean, the outgoing Mayor of Sydney
who, as current Premier John Salvage's
predecessor, was shoved aside and is still
licking his wounds.
( see ' Editorial', Page# 2)
Novs Scotia Update
Trans Capital Air
Outaouais Casino
Ontario Native Casino
' Shortlist"
Monthly Gaming
Statistics
Saskatchewan Update
Developments to
Watch
Feature Intemew
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