Gaming News

New Brunswick casino options varied

NEW BRUNSWICK, Canada -- As reported by the Times & Transcript: "With no one talking, and it not even certain which precise parcel of land will one day hold New Brunswick's first and only casino, it is difficult to imagine what form the Magnetic Hill casino announced Thursday will take when it opens in 2010.

"But now that the principals, estimated budget and number of potential employees are known, a little digging around yields a few clues to suggest what sort of complex it will be.

"...The province has chosen a proposal by Sonco Gaming New Brunswick Limited Partnership.

"The partnership -- consisting of Sonco Gaming, The Navegante Group, Toronto investment firm Clairvest and 2050631 Ontario Inc. -- plans to build a resort hotel with 128 rooms, as well as a convention centre with theatre seating for 1,500 and a banquet-style capacity for 1,400.

"...Finance Minister Victor Boudreau said Thursday government expects to receive about $25 million a year in gambling revenues from the operation. He also said, 'it will really be a destination casino complex, much bigger and more elaborate than what is in Halifax, for example.'

"Working from those few clues, we can probably find a good model for what to expect here in Halifax's casino (other Maritime gaming venues Membertou Entertainment Complex, Charlottetown Driving Park and Sydney Casino are significantly smaller). Though Boudreau says Moncton's will be bigger and more elaborate, Halifax is of course in a similar community and culture, and earns its province a similar return to what is expected by the Province of New Brunswick each year, about $22 million on $72 million gross revenues.

"While Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax is already familiar to most gamblers in our area, a better example of what's in store for Moncton might be found in Alberta out where the prairies meet the Rockies..."

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