The future casino venue in North Bay will have to support the local charitable organizations with its revenue and boost their performance in the long run, as it was recently proposed by some of the local councilors. Johanne Brousseau, Tanya Vrebosch, and Dave Mendicino all support the idea that regular revenue allocations to the community should be utilized for the purposes of the local charities, instead of using them as general revenue.
Recently with the help of two City Hall meetings and votes held, North Bay councilors voted 8-3 in support of a new casino venue built and overseen by casino developer and operator Gateway Casinos. The controversial vote repeated two times is something the community still talks about, as both time individuals made presentations against the casino venue construction, pointing out the devastating impact it would have on the local economy and citizens’ peace.
Local Charities Could Benefit from Casino Operation
Now three of the councilors supporting the regular portions of casino revenue allocated to the community stated that they would be best utilized as a boost for the local charity organizations and important causes for the area. Upcoming months will be dedicated to making the decision and weighing all options for the revenue utilization. Even though the City Hall voted in support of the casino venue, Gateway Casinos has yet to reveal more details about its future operation.
In this sense, nothing is set in stone for the time being, but this is an important first step in the direction of gambling operation in North Bay. In the meantime, before construction work commences, the plan for action should be devised and discussed. However, it should be taken into account that the casino venue might not launch operation until 2020, according to a previous statement of Gateway Casinos.
Local officials will have to take into account the needs of the community. They should weigh the options and make sure that local good causes and charitable organizations of greater benefit will have the chance to make good use of the allocate revenue portion generated by the new casino venue.
Projections for Casino Field Boost
According to the city councilors, the revenue generated through gaming operation should not be added to the overall amount of cash utilized for city projects. This is special money which should be reinvested in the community in a special way and this could happen via charity and non-profit organizations to the likes of Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Bay and District, The Alzheimer Society of North Bay and District, Capitol Centre, and Lake Nipissing Stewardship Council.
Coun. Brousseau brought to the attention the fact the casino operation will have a significant impact on the bingo operation in the region, as well as the community groups which rely on the bingo revenue allocations. The year 2019 will be dedicated to ironing this matter out and making sure that the casino venue operation is not going to negatively affect existing bingo benefits for North Bay.
Work on this matter was initially planned for the beginning of December, but the two consecutive City Council meetings delayed it. Estimated annual revenue which could be generated the new Gateway casinos venue could bring up to CA$2 million to the city coffers.
