Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s (OLG) Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs recently remitted its third-quarter payment of slightly more than $820,000 in gaming revenue to Cavan Monaghan Township.
The township, located in Peterborough County in central-eastern Ontario, Canada received the slot hosting fee of $820,509 in non-tax gaming revenue from OLG for the period from October to December 2016, according to the Peterborough Examiner.
Non-tax gaming revenue of more than $54.6 million has been received by Cavan Monaghan since November 1999, according to the news agency. However, if the OLG’s plan to move the slots from their current location to the new Shorelines Casino Peterborough is successful, the township won’t be receiving the host fee much longer.
OLG’s plan includes the rezoning of land located on the outskirts of the city so that the casino’s private operator, Great Canadian Gaming Corp., can move the slots operation currently located at the Fraserville property. Shorelines Casino Peterborough would be built on Crawford Drive at The Parkway, where last year the vacant industrial land was approved by the city council for rezoning. Great Canadian wanted construction of the new casino to be completed this year so that it could also open this year, however, last year’s approval by the city is under appeal so that’s unlikely.
Earlier reports indicate that this week, a two-day Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) pre-hearing into the re-zoning issue is scheduled to start, to be followed by a full three-week proceeding in May. The appellants in the case are local property owner AON Inc. and the Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA) association, both of which wanted a casino downtown, according to the news agency. No Casino Peterborough, a citizens’ lobby group that is against a casino in the city, has participant status, which means that its plan to address the social and economic costs of the new development along with its previously overlooked environmental consequences can be done so without having to hire a lawyer. Recently, the lobby group made the decision to step back as an official party to the legal battle due to funding concerns.
Meanwhile, on January 11, Great Canadian Gaming opened its $31 million Shorelines Casino Belleville. The new gaming facility features 450 slots, 18 gaming tables, a VIP mixed-games area, restaurant, buffet, and entertainment lounge.