The prospect of 200 new jobs and $36 million in new investment for Chatham-Kent are very good reasons for the municipality to work closely with Gateway Casinos to get the new facility going ASAP in Chatham.
After all, the Cascades Casino, set to go up at the corner of Richmond Street and Keil Drive, neighbouring the Holiday Inn Express and the John D. Bradley Convention Centre, creates an entertainment hub of sorts. One that is pretty easy to access from Highway 401 for out-of-town visitors.
But equally if not more important is the fact Gateway plans on bringing its entire compliment of about 100 employees from its current Dresden location to the new facility, and will remain committed to supporting the Dresden Agricultural Society. The Society runs the harness racing at the raceway in the North Kent community, to which the current gaming room is attached.
Critics say Chatham is gaining while an outlying community is losing, but the reality is we all stand to gain from the added employment and tourism.
But one can also wonder how many jobs the new facility could cost other businesses.
With the expansion to more than 330 slot machines, and the addition of 10 gaming tables, Gateway anticipates more traffic to its facility. And that’s before you factor in the two restaurants that will be on site.
Gateway president Tony Santo said the draw radius for a typical Cascades casino is only about 30 kilometres. That’s basically inside Chatham-Kent, so the company expects most of its traffic will be comprised of local citizens.
There are only so many local entertainment dollars to go around. As Cascades eats up more, that means less will be spent elsewhere.
Yes, the casino will draw some people from outside our municipality. It will be a shiny, new centre of fun. But will people come from Windsor to check it out when Caesar’s is ensconced on that city’s waterfront? Debatable.
We could get traffic from the east, especially as London council continues to drag its feet when dealing with Gateway’s proposals for the Forest City. But eventually, that should all get sorted out.
One can hope the initial out-of-town curiosity draw is so strong that people keep coming back. Considering its near-perfect location, that remains a possibility.
The positives have to outweigh the negatives.
