To the editor:
Thunder Bay has received more than $36.8 million since the casino opened downtown in August 2000. The city receives around $2.4 million a year as a host community.
These amounts represent five per cent of proceeds from slot machines Thunder Bay gets and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation keeps 95 per cent, as well as all revenue from gaming tables, etc. This adds up to a million dollars a week being taken out of circulation from our economy that is struggling.
Projections that the casino would attract busloads of tourists bringing cash to the city never materialized. It is mostly local money that should be supporting local businesses and fueling our economic growth that is being sucked away.
The five per cent the city gets is a token bribe for approximately a billion dollars in hard cash the casino has taken away in the past 15 years.
Initially sold to us as a charity casino, this changed when local charities including our Multicultural Youth Centre have never been compensated for lost bingo revenue from the gaming windfall the city gets. We have to apply to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for grants from a small portion of the gaming proceeds allocated per-capita for the whole region.
The casino sponsors community events and provides some jobs. The events are public relations to promote gaming among potential clients in order to reap more profits.
On the other hand the jobs created are for taking millions of after-tax dollars from the city. Moreover, the casino does not fund training programs, activities and events for children and youth under 18 years old – dependents who are impacted adversely when family money is gambled away.
The area around the casino has seen a slight increase in crime, and more seniors are spending time there. There are also issues with people going almost into bankruptcy.
The social and economic conditions in our city are worsening with growing poverty, addictions, homelessness, unemployment, crime and so forth.
The casino is to blame for siphoning money local charities relied on to run programs and provide services that helped to make our community better and safer. Our Youth Centre's bingo revenue dropped from $67,527.00 to $10,903.40 after the casino opened.
We also lost what we used to get from the roving Monte Carlos. As a result, we have become mere spectators in various cases where we were involving the youth in positive activities and making a difference. Likewise, many volunteer groups also lost the capacity to fundraise. Consequently some have scaled down their operations or folded altogether, leaving a void that has not been filled.
City council cannot address the deteriorating social conditions in our community alone.
But as long as the casino continues to take away a million dollars a week, local charities will not have financial resources to engage the grassroots to be part of the solution to problems, offer supports to vulnerable groups and individuals to improve their quality of life, and provide services that enhance our profile and make our community a great place to live and be proud of.
It is hard for our economy to rebound and grow when we have growing costly social problems, and there are no new businesses to replace the hard cash the casino is sucking out.
Closing the casino would certainly revive the charities' fortunes, and our economy, but this is unlikely to happen. The current OLG talk about privatization offers an opportunity to negotiate a new deal that really benefits our community and the region.
The suggestion by Fort William First Nation Chief Peter Collins to move the casino from its downtown location to Big Thunder should be taken seriously as a viable option.
Distance would deter spontaneous walk-in gamblers, and a partnership with First Nations using Casino Rama as precedence should see more casino money staying here while we share some with needy communities across Northwestern Ontario.
This would be a better strategy to recoup what is being taken from our community daily.
Moffat Makuto,
Thunder Bay
