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Odds are council?s 19-5 vote Wednesday in support of a new casino will set the table for a potentially painful debate on where the betting house might go.
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After one of the more impassioned debates by council this term, politicians overwhelmingly agreed to signal the city?s interest in a casino to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
Still, council members are flying blind as the OLG advances its tendering process outside of public scrutiny.
The OLG is looking for a private operator to build and run a new casino in the nation?s capital. Only one preferred proposal -- not a shortlist of locations -- will be sent to City Hall in 2013 for council?s mandatory approval.
Hanging in the balance is the future of the Rideau Carleton Raceway, which is planning what can be only described as a survival bid. If the raceway doesn?t win the casino tender, it faces closure since the OLG wants only one gaming facility in the Ottawa region.
The city receives a cut of the revenues if it hosts a gaming facility.
Councillors Mathieu Fleury (Rideau-Vanier), Scott Moffatt (Rideau-Goulbourn), David Chernushenko (Capital), Tim Tierney (Beacon Hill-Cyrville) and Diane Deans (Gloucester-Southgate) voted against the concept of a new casino.
Moffatt commanded the attention of his colleagues as he pointed out the OLG has no interest in casinos outside urban clusters. The gaming zones across Ontario have been drawn to rip out rural raceway slot operations in favour of city casinos, he said.
Deans scoffed at suggestions that the vote was simply to explore the idea of a casino in Ottawa.
?Don?t kid yourself. This vote matters,? Deans said.
There were other councillors who lodged complaints against the OLG?s tendering plan, but they endorsed a new casino anyway.
Bay Coun. Mark Taylor said the OLG is ?setting us up for an impossible choice? and he lambasted the agency?s ?poorly done? process.
City management confirmed to council staff have been approached by a couple of private interests poking around the casino issue, however staff are not pointing them to any potential locations.
Deans asked staff about sites being bandied about. They include Rideau Carleton Raceway, Scotiabank Place, Ottawa International Airport, downtown, Dows Lake and the Bayview area, where the O-Train meets the Transitway.
City manager Kent Kirkpatrick said he doesn?t know which sites the private sector might be eyeing.
Jon.willing@sunmedia.ca
Twitter@JonathanWilling
Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/10/10/casino-motion-passes-despite-5-no-votes
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