By Heather Abrey
Kitchener Post staff
Only one person ??Mark Bingeman ? spoke in favour of Kitchener becoming a willing host community to an OLG casino during the first public consultation meeting held in council chambers Tuesday night.
About 20 people spoke before councillors, with all but Bingeman and an Ipsos pollster, who was presenting results from a phone survey, urging council to vote against moving forward in the casino process. The Bingemans property, on Bingemans Centre Drive, could be a potential location for a casino and conference centre.
Council will decide the issue on May 13. A vote in favour would not necessarily mean a casino will be built in Kitchener, but would label Kitchener a willing host community. Communities can back out of the process at any time, according to the OLG.
A casino in Kitchener could mean up to 1,200 slot machines and an unspecified number of gaming tables. Municipalities receive a cut from slot machine revenue but collect no money from gaming tables. According to Larry Flynn, OLG senior vice president of gaming, 5.25 per cent of slot revenue, up to a total of $65 million, goes to the host municipality.
Bingeman spoke to council about additional economic benefits of a casino, such as hosting fees received by the municipality, development charges from building, property taxes, additional jobs and ?also reclaiming a significant amount of gaming revenue that?s leaving our community now.?
He said councillors can choose how to spend those funds and could use it to support arts and culture in the community, which some councillors said could suffer as residents? spending money flows into the casino instead of into local businesses and entertainment venues such as Centre in the Square.
According to Bingeman, the building of casino could bring up to 1,500 jobs and $35 million in payroll to the community. The Brantford casino currently employs about 900 people.
?Within our industry, these are well-paying jobs,? he said.
OLG representatives told councillors that the average salary is $50,000 to $60,000 plus benefits. However, a report by The Martin Prosperity Institute says such numbers include the salaries of high-paid executives, and that casino jobs are often part time with a salary closer to $25,000.
Another frequently raised issue was the social costs related to casinos.
OLG representatives said 1.2 to 3.4 per cent of the population are problem gamblers. Dr. Liana Nolan, the Waterloo Region medical officer of health, said more than 200 suicides per year in Canada are attributed to gambling and one in 16 people with a gambling problem have thoughts of suicide. Spouses and children of problem gamblers are also more likely to attempt suicide.
?There are other relationship impacts, including secrecy and distance; missed commitments at work, home and school; divorce and family breakdown; financial hardship; and domestic abuse,? said Nolan.
Problem gambling disproportionately affects men, youth, older adults and those with low income, she said, contributing to poverty and economic inequality.
Currently, the rate of problem gambling in Waterloo Region is estimated to be half the rate of the province, according to Nolan. But problem gambling increases with proximity to facilities, and the severest forms of problem gambling doubled in Niagara within a year of casinos opening there, she said.
?We acknowledge that those things happen,? said Paul Pelazzari, OLG executive director of policy and social responsibility.
?There is damage that is caused by gambling; this is a reality. As the operator of this, what we can do is to provide the best and most robust supports that we can for people who experience problems . . . Gambling is a reality. It is a product that?s legal, and we have to do what we can to make it as safe as it possibly can be. But we?re not in any way saying that there aren?t negative impacts from it.?
The OLG gives $40 million to the Ministry of Health to deal with problem gambling and also spends $13.8 million on its own program, according to Pelazzari. The OLG brings in $6.5 billion in annual revenue.
Richard Christy, the former mayor of Kitchener, compared the OLG to a ponzi scheme, saying the organization sucks money from communities, selling hope but offering little in the way of returns on the investment.
?People have to lose in order for a casino to profit. The more people lose, the greater the profit,? said Trudy Beaulne from the Kitchener Social Planning Council. ?Why is the province continuing this counter-productive approach to revenue generation??
A second public consultation meeting will be held on April 30. To register as a delegation, call Linda Korabo at 519-741-2200 ext. 7591. There is also an online survey to provide feedback to the city, which can be found at kitchener.ca/casino.
Council will vote on the issue on May 13.
habrey@kitchenerpost.ca
Source: http://www.kitchenerpost.ca/news/public-comes-out-strongly-against-casino/
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