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When high rolling gamblers take a break and settle back to swap stories, names of places like Monte Carlo, Macao, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City usually get quick mention in their stories. Some Canadians are hoping other places like Hull, Winnipeg, Windsor, and Orillia will begin making it into these conversations.
Canadians are now in the casino business. They have a ways to go yet for glamour, glitz, and sophisticated gaming, but they're working at it. To check out their progress, here's a look at casinos in four different provinces.
Gambling has as much a hold on the Canadian psyche as on that of people almost everywhere. Yet, to the extent ambition and adventure have fueled the American dream, thrift and temperance have dampened that of the Canadian's. Thus, only in the past three decades or so has gaming, other than church bingos and horse racing parimutuels, become legitimized in Canada.
The turning point came when cash-strapped Canadian provincial governments decided the best way to make a buck and control gambling was to become the House. The federal government, because it was promoting its own lottery, obligingly made gambling winnings by Canadians tax free.
Manitoba was the first province to get into the casino business, opening a casino in a former Victorian-era railroad hotel. Slot machines were jammed into a main ballroom cheek to jowl, security was intrusive, and amenities non-existent. Of its nearly 1400 play stations, more than half were slot machines and bingo, possibly to save on salary costs. No click of the roulette here; no clatter of dice; nor even the sibilance of shuffled cards. Clearly, the objective on the part of management was the maximization of profits in the short-term.
The province of Ontario has done much better. Two major government-owned casinos are in operation, one in Windsor, across the river from Detroit, and the other in Niagara Falls. By situating them on the American-Canadian border, operators were able to expand their market area considerably.
As well, government arranged that these casinos be operated by seasoned veterans. In the case of Casino Windsor, the government hired Caesars World Gaming and the Hilton Hotel Corporation to run things. Craps, roulette, baccarat and blackjack are available; baccarat with a maximum bet of $10000 CAD, blackjack at $5000 CAD.
A few minutes north of Toronto, still in Ontario, a native-owned casino has been opened, the Casino Rama Resort. Here, again, veteran operators were brought in, Carnival Hotels and Casinos.
The Ontario sites have left room for expansion, not only of their gaming facilities, but also for other complementing amenities, such as fine dining, stage shows, and lounges.
Across the river from Canada's capital city, Ottawa, is the city of Hull in the province of Quebec. Located here is one of the Quebec government's three casinos, rapidly becoming that province's premier gaming establishment.
Already up and running for several years, last year in the face of growing competition from a native-owned casino in Hogansburg, New York and an enormous slots operation in Ottawa, Casino de Hull began a $200 Million expansion, in partnership with Hilton Hotels. The expansion will provide gambling capacity for over 6000 players, a 23-floor hotel, convention centre, and 18-hole golf course, slated to open in August, 2001. Casino de Hull already has several first-class restaurants.
On the downside, Casino de Hull closes between 3 a.m. and 11 a.m. daily — tough on a player working a hot streak. Bet maximum limits are set rather low for a casino advertising itself as world class, and, as well, based on a survey of slots payoff odds for casinos in the Western Hemisphere, Hull was ranked rather on the greedy side. That management regularly pumps a rich oxygen mixture into the gaming area is a vitalizer for players, but being able to have a drink in the area without having to go to one of the lounges would be a vitalizer too, especially if one has to abandon one's favorite slot machine to do it. The partnership with the worldly Hilton people may change some of this.
Other provincial governments in Canada have been watching casino developments closely, as have native groups.
In British Columbia, the government is treading lightly. It has opted to grant gaming licenses but stay removed from ownership. So far, most casinos there have been established in existing hotels rather than in special-built facilities like the Hull operation, and they are quite small.
For example, the Royal Diamond Casino and Great Canadian Casino in Vancouver average about 5000 square feet each, compared to Windsor with 100,000 square feet. Maximum bet limits are also very low. At the Royal Diamond the maximum blackjack bet is $500 CAD; at the Great Canadian Casino it's a meager $25 CAD. This suggests in-house working capital is modest and, perhaps, the deep pockets of government or other partners might help boost the industry.
That said, Canadians are striving to become another important "dropped name" in gambling circles, but the cachet of more exotic names, like Atlantis in the Bahamas, is still elusive.
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