The London Beat London, Ontario’s stream of consciousness
London City council has passed a motion 9-5 to endorse expanded gambling in the city, and paved the way for a casino to be built in the near future. The vote will allow up to 1,200 slot machines and 50 live game tables, and comes following a narrow vote by the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee (SPPC) Monday night.
The SPPC added a non-binding preference for the casino to be located at the Western Fair district, and it was voted in favour 13-1 despite issues brought up during the public consultation meeting.
Additionally, Council voted for the Civic Administration to report on how to use revenue from the casino to combat potential harms done by gambling. Councillor Josh Morgan pushed for the city to demand more money from the province to fund support services.
Despite the obvious powder keg social aspect, Council recognized that if they did not okay the casino, Gateway Casinos and Entertainment Limited would have just chosen a smaller city, and taken the revenue away from London. Had they done that, the social impact of gambling on London would have still been a potential issue, but without the revenue to do anything about it.
The City has a contribution agreement with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) to receive a percentage of slot revenues. In 2017, the payment was approximately $5 million from the operations at Western Fair. Council uses that contribution money for infrastructure investments and capital projects.
