Richmond mayor says he’ll fight proposed Delta casino

Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie says he plans to fight a proposed casino in Delta, B.C., just across the Fraser River from his city.

Delta City Council approved the plan at a meeting on Monday night, which would see Gateway Casinos build and operate the new facility on the site of the former Delta Town and Country Inn.

The proposed new facility would be built near Highway 99 and Highway 17A, close to the mouth of the George Massey Tunnel.

“We think that it’s wrongly located,” said Brodie.

The mayor argues that the casino would have a negative impact on agricultural land and potentially draw crime.

What’s more, Brodie said, the new gaming house could siphon off revenue from his city.

“It’s just up the highway from the existing casino. That is likely to draw customers away from the River Rock, which is going to have a negative revenue impact.”

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Brodie argued that the B.C. Lottery Corporation (BCLC) had originally been considering a location in North Delta, which he said would make more sense.

Richmond has filed a notice of objection with the BCLC and will formally contest the location, said Brodie.

“I don’t know the timelines, I don’t know exactly the process that’s going to be followed, but this will get resolved one way or the other.”

Delta argues that the proposed casino would result in the creation of 700 jobs and new hotel accommodations in addition to creating between $1.5 million to $3 million in revenue for the city every year.

The proposed 161,000-square-foot building would be five storeys tall and have 124 rooms. The casino floor itself would be a little more than 42,000 square feet.

Under the proposal, it would have 500 slot machines, 24 table games and four to six electronic table games, with the BCLC to review those numbers after six months in operation.