Why a downtown casino is the only choice for Ottawa

Why a downtown casino is the only choice for Ottawa

 

MGM Toronto plan. image source

Why do we have casinos? Some say it’s the entertainment value. Man has found pleasure in the rush of gambling since the dawn of time and that need for the thrill of winning is why we visit and enjoy casinos. There is also the fun of shows, dining, and getting together with friends. The MGM plan for Toronto actually only had 17% of its land dedicated to casino space (here's a clip). The rest was hotels, conference center, parks, and restaurants. Today’s modern casinos make most of their money in these areas, not gambling.

The main reason a city would accept a casino is for profitability, whether it’s profit sharing or taxes, tourism or entertainment; cities do it for the money.

CHOOSING A VIABLE LOCATION IN OTTAWA

 So you’re an investor and you want your enterprise to be as profitable as possible. What are you going to look for? Well first you’re going to look at market viability. Will your location support your new business? Do you have competitors? Can you buy them out so you can be your own competition (eg. Future Shop & Best Buy did this)? Where is the population and tourists you need as customers? Do you build from scratch or do you retrofit an existing building? What is the local transportation like and will you have to build roads to get access to your building? The CT Center (formerly the Scotiabank Place, home of the Ottawa Senators) had to build its own overpass to get such access.

 

The RCR. Clearly in the boonies.

Now for the sake of argument we are going to say there are two possible, truly viable, casino locations. The first is the Rideau Carleton Raceway (RCR) and the second is located at the City Center (CC) on Scott St. This would also include the land on the other side of Scott where the snow dump is now—a huge waste of downtown land, where snow is accumulated throughout the winter.

CITY CENTRE WINS OUR VOTE.

Both locations have good size footprints; both have space for free parking or at least the ability to build underground parking. Both could be built or retrofitted to be whatever design you would like. As far as location goes this is where the two sites part ways. Fears and emotions aside, the downtown location has the winning hand. Transportation is fantastic. The O Train runs right behind the building and the casino could actually be a stop on the line. The new Light Rail Transit (LRT) is right in front. Scott St, The Parkway, and the Queensway give excellent east-west access. There are four bridges within 1-3 km for access to Quebec. It is within 5-10 minutes travel of every major hotel and most of the major tourist destinations. The main bike paths are next door and Gatineau Park is minutes away. Like RCR, the location doesn’t interfere with any of the downtown businesses and will actually increase business for the local economy by drawing tourists to downtown Ottawa. Picture 5000-6000 patrons downtown each night. Those are numbers Ottawa Tourism would kill for.

What currently squats on the City Centre property.

 The RCR has none of these advantages. As a matter of fact, the city never even bothered to run a bus route to the RCR and it’s been operating gaming and horse track activities for years.

The City Centre has another huge advantage. It doesn’t come with any baggage. Everyone keeps asking, why would you not want to stay with RCR? Some say that those who go there now will not go to a new casino. Well, we heard the same argument when people threatened never to go to a restaurant or a bar if they outlawed smoking. They still went to bars and restaurants. Now some will stubbornly remove the fun of the casino from their lives just to spite us. But those numbers will be easily made up by the tourists and the people not going to the Lac Leamy Casino. Which is good for Ontario: keeping tourism and gaming monies in the Ontario economy and gaming charities. Those who go to the RCR currently because it’s close to their homes will make the trip to the downtown locale: just take the Airport Parkway downtown and you are there.

 

The City Centre: tons of space, right downtown.

Secondly: if they build downtown, they don’t have to deal with the Horseracing Association and the costs involved in maintaining a dying sport. I know this is where photos of horses being carted off to the abattoir start showing up. But the sport is archaic and not locally beloved. You either pump the money into a business to make it run or you let it go. I hated to see camera film disappear but what replaced it has changed the world. If we are going to make a go of this we can’t do it without cutting the costs. Why would a new competitor take on an albatross like the Horseracing Association when it could build anew without the headache? And with the RCR gone, the profits flow to the new location.

So you see, it’s really a simple question of economics. We don’t have to build $200 million in infrastructure according to Councillor Diane Deane’s estimates. And I’m sure that the new casino would be glad to pitch in on the LRT, which, like every other city building project, green bin program, bridge construction, will be grossly over-budget and in need of funds. Ottawa needs a destination. Something to put it on the map. A new Downtown Casino built to the likes of MGM or Ceasars will be a boon to this City, the economy—not to mention the percentage payback to the Province (to support Health Care, Trillium Funds etc) and our City infrastructure and costs. The spin-off economy, jobs and tourism will far outweigh any agricultural job loss that has been tossed at us as a poor excuse for defaulting to the paltry RCR location.

Downtown is the clear-cut winner here; when will our councillors accept that, or will they continue to muck around ignorantly until it’s too late, and we have another Lynx Stadium on our hands: another money-hemorrhaging mess? It’s not too late, Councillors: wake up.