McGuinty Doesn't Support Casino Referendums; Godfrey Pressures Toronto; MGM Speaks

On Friday, September 21 while speaking at the Toronto Board of Trade, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. Chairman Paul Godfrey stated that the OLG needs to know if Toronto will declare itself a willing host municipality for casino expansion by January or February of 2013.

 

According to a report by The Globe And Mail, Godfrey again pitched the idea of a downtown or waterfront casino, along with an entertainment, hospitality and retail complex. The article also states that Godfrey told reporters that his preference for the casino expansion is the Toronto market, but that a downtown location 'is the only place that makes sense.'

Interestingly enough, The Globe And Mail report states that while delivering his speech at the Toronto Board of Trade, Godfrey was flanked by none other than MGM Mirage Hospitality President and CEO Gamal Aziz. MGM Mirage Hospitality could be in a position to cash in significantly if it is allowed to enter the Toronto gaming market and set up shop.

Earlier this summer, MGM Resorts International was heavily scrutinized by gaming regulators in the United States over accusations that at least part of its capital at one point could have been under the influence, to an undetermined extent, by Chinese organized crime groups. Just last week, multiple reports surfaced in the Canadian media about the possibility of organized crime syndicates having found their way into Ontario's provincial politics. Commenting on the issue, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was quoted as saying, "If there are serious and warranted allegations they need to be made in a substantive way, not through the media," and that he would "expect that people in positions among our police services would be drawing this to our attention at the earliest possible opportunity."

“For what we do, downtown is the option that we would focus on,” Aziz was quoted as saying, in regard to where MGM Mirage Hospitality would wish to set up shop if the OLG found it to be the company to run the proposed downtown Toronto casino. The Globe And Mail article explains that Aziz wouldn’t confirm which of the proposed downtown Toronto locations --- the Portlands, Exhibition Place or Convention Centre -- is most appealing to his company.

The OLG and minority Ontario Liberal Party have stuck to their collective rhetoric that they will not impose casino expansion on any municipality that doesn't want one; although, via the OLG, Dalton McGuinty's Ontario Liberals have announced that they will not support municipal referendums on the subject. The referendum route is the only way to get an indisputable gauge of whether the tax-paying public actually wants massive expansions of gaming enterprises in their own backyards.

After having told Hamilton City Council two days ago that he would need up to four weeks to consult with the OLG Board regarding the possibility of 2014 casino referendums in Hamilton, OLG Senior VP, Gaming, Larry Flynn yesterday penned a letter to Hamilton City Council stating, in part:

Our mandate requires us to seek municipal consent in whatever form the municipality chooses to provide it to us. This consent must involve a public input process. It is entirely up to the municipality to decide how this occurs. Since the referendum is not required by OLG, no additional funding will be provided to the municipality to undertake this step.

To read the letter in its entirety, click here.

The CBC has covered the OLG response to Hamilton's referendum question. In addition to the referendum question, Hamilton Council was also looking for a definite answer as to how much revenue the city would receive from casino expansion; what the parameters of the OLG's geographic gaming zone for the area would ultimately look like, and where the OLG would want to locate the casino. City Council has publicly held the position that it supports Flamboro Downs first and foremost, both due to its significant role in the municipality in terms of the horse-racing industry, and because of its time-tested role as a terrific revenue generator for the city.

The CBC report has quoted Councillor Sam Merulla as saying that Flynn's letter regarding Hamilton's questions, which are more than fair given everything that is at stake, was “pathetically unacceptable and inept” and that the questions Hamilton asked of the OLG “are still unanswered.”

Merulla was also quoted as saying that he is now “left with no choice but to move quickly on determining support for a referendum from council since we've been entirely removed from the process and have no control, which disempowers our city and its residents.”

Instead of getting the indisputable answer of whether or not tax-paying Ontarians actually want massive casino gambling expansions in their backyards, many municipalities have lackadaisically opted for a rather non-transparent and generally inconclusive option of receiving feedback. Many municipalities have held open-house sessions, while others have conducted online polls, some with samples sizes of merely 500 people.

Eleven days ago, Ontario New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath --- whose party this past spring abstained in a critical budget vote that would have toppled the minority Liberal Government --- stated in the Ontario Legislature that she fully supports a casino referendum in Hamilton. Horwath was quoted as saying, "Will this government direct OLG officials to discontinue any further meetings with city officials until a referendum has been held and the voices of the people of Hamilton have actually been heard?”

There has yet to be a response from Horwath since news of Flynn's OLG letter to Hamilton has come to light.

(With files from The Globe And Mail and the CBC)

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