Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis has approved an application for the Camrose Casino to relocate to Edmonton.
The agency said in a news release Thursday morning that the decision was made “after careful consideration of objections and support.”
While the casino is approved to move to Edmonton, it will remain in the rural pool for charitable gaming events.
“In balancing all the options, the decision to approve the application will support continuous business operations, provide jobs for Albertans and will significantly improve returns for rural charities with minimal impact to charities assigned to the Edmonton pool,” AGLC said in a news release.
“AGLC has a key responsibility to be a direct contributor to provincial revenue. This relocation will result in significant additional revenue for the government of Alberta which in turn contributes to the foundational services that Albertans rely on.”
Concerns arose a couple of years ago after the application was first made to relocate the casino. Edmonton charities were worried they would lose out on millions of fundraising dollars with the casino staying in the rural pool.
Jeffrey Dawson with Alberta Casino Advisors Inc. said from a provincial standpoint, the relocation makes sense. He added that he doesn’t believe the Edmonton charities stand to lose as much revenue as some might think.
“There’s a lot of residents that live in the south of Edmonton with no casinos nearby. And there’s a large amount of casinos in the north. So you’re likely going to see a little bit of downturn in the ones in the north but I don’t think it’s going to be as much as people are concerned about,” Dawson said.
“I think you’re going to gain more from people who are currently choosing to go to the one in Leduc or perhaps they’re going to other forms of entertainment rather than to a casino.”
Dawson said organizations that hold two-day casino nights in Edmonton make about $80,000, whereas charities in the rural component who go to either St. Albert or Camrose make about $20,000.
“For Edmonton specific, there’s going to be a little bit of reduction to the Edmonton charities. However, they are the highest paid charities in all of the province and the rural ones outside of Edmonton that currently go to Camrose and St. Albert are amongst the lowest in the province, so it’s a huge disparity.”
The president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta said he is supportive of the change.
“Volunteerism in rural Alberta doesn’t get the same level of proceeds typically due to quieter casinos in rural Alberta,” said Paul McLauchlan.
“This is important money for municipalities and there’s a huge discrepancy between the proceeds from urban and the availability of casino monies to urban compared to the rural people that are volunteering across the province.”
McLauchlan would like to see changes to the gaming revenue model that would make a more even playing field for both rural and urban Albertans.
“We’re looking for equal support for equal work for all eligible organizations. You’d hate to have a scenario where you have charitable organizations more or less fighting with one another over proceeds. I think there’s really a solution to be found in online gaming and maybe a transfer of funds to top up those rural volunteers across the province,” he said.
“There’s an opportunity here to push to a united front, saying that we need to have equitability in the system.”
The application laid out a plan to build the casino at 420 Parsons Road Southwest, which is currently an empty piece of land south of South Edmonton Common and north of Ellerslie Road.
Karhiio Coun. Keren Tang said city council was opposed to the proposal, in part due to the way the gaming revenue is handed out. Tang also said she’s heard concerns from area residents about added congestion the casino traffic will bring to Parsons Road.
“Primarily we were really concerned around some of the infrastructure needs that a project this size, this scale is going to have an impact on,” Tang said.
“If we look at the road, the infrastructure here, lots of people are worried about significantly more congestion than there already is.”
The casino is still required to follow a number of steps before the AGLC issues a casino facility licence.
Camrose Resort Casino and Hotel declined an interview request from Global News.