The realtor handling the sale of the Battery Hotel, Colliers International, is suggesting the hotel could be redeveloped into a casino (see page four of this PDF.) What do you think?
Should a casino be allowed in downtown St. John’s?
Elling Lien asked this question on Tuesday at 9 am.
18 Answers
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May 18th, 2010 at 9:39 am
The text from the document reads: “POTENTIAL FOR A CASINO
Newfoundland is one of only two Canadian provinces that does not have a provincially approved casino. If this highly interesting situation changes, the site is sufficiently large to accommodate a Class A casino and hotel. The unobstructed, elevated harbour view provides an unmatched setting for this type of development.”
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May 18th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Should a casino be allowed in downtown St. John’s? http://thescope.ca/wha/should-a-casino-b...
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May 18th, 2010 at 9:41 am
@thescopeNL The people will kick up a stick about it .. it wont happen
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May 18th, 2010 at 9:46 am
@thescopeNL I hope not.
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May 18th, 2010 at 10:07 am
A casino would have a negative effect on small clubs that rely on VLT revenue. Besides that, I don’t know why we shouldn’t have one.
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May 18th, 2010 at 10:18 am
1\ The province is already on shaky moral ground with the VLTs. If they put in a casino, they’d better be prepared to dedicate most of the revenue to hiring more addictions counselors, debt counselors, and social workers.
2\ As if the east end of Water Street isn’t already seedy enough. You can’t walk beyond the War Memorial without scary cars circling you. What will that walk be like once there’s a casino at the end of it?
3\ What’s the other province with no casino, and why don’t they have one?
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May 18th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
New Brunswick just opend a casino in Moncton last week which left Newfoundland and Labrador the only province without a casino.
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May 18th, 2010 at 10:21 am
god no.
too many people have been arguing for the removal of VLT’s from even the smaller venues.
I have nothing against gambling, or vices in general in sensible moderation. However realistically large scale gambling comes with a lot of bad. sure poor people clinging to the dream of winning big as they gamble their paychecks away is great gossip. but when all their money is lost they won’t even be able to buy the drinks they’ll need to wash their sorrows away.
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May 18th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Just great. A casino; what a novel idea!
This is the last thing we need, methinks, what with St. John’s growing status as a boom town in light of the expanding petroleum industry here, and the things that are already bubbling to the surface as the plot develops (ie: more hard drugs, the creeping increase in violence..).
A look at the history of so-called “boom towns” gives us a glimpse at a less than shining future. With this apparent prosperity comes the inevitable increase in organized crime, dramatic increases in the cost of living (esp. within housing), more seemingly random violence; the list of negative effects on the social strata outweigh the positive benefits of temporary economic gain.
And yes, temporary economic gain. Eventually, these expendable resources which typically make “boom towns” the phenomenon they are live up to themselves and do just that: they are expended. And, after the goods are gone, so goes the money and the people with it, leaving formerly prosperous cities to stagnate, gentrify, and rot.
Building a casino here isn’t going to help matters; if anything, it’ll further complicate the already growing issues we’re beginning to notice as well as make them all the more drastic.
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May 18th, 2010 at 10:41 am
Casinos worry me. Aren’t we trying to slowly get rid of VLTs? Gambling addiction is terrible, and we’re not exactly a huge city so a) there’s relatively minimal support for addiction and b) I’m not sure we have the population to support a casino anyway (so tourist would have to fill the void, and I’d rather they visit our local shops and outports).
I’m a proponent of patient and sustained growth in a city. Oil wealth is going to surge for awhile here, and rapid prosperity brings enough issues with it. Do we need to add gambling addiction to that list right now?
I’m not sure we need to jump at every opportunity for huge influx of cash, such as a casino development.
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May 18th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
St.John’s gets a casino and this whole town turns into a skeet version of fucking “Goodfellas”. Gambling=Crime= Eventual Socio-economic decay.
But if we can attract Liza Minelli, Tom Jones or Wayne Newton to play the Casino, nobody will even notice the downfall of a once unique city…..
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May 18th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
There are enough problems in St. John’s associated with more money being around without adding more gambling to the mix. Also a casino between a National Historic Site and the battery is not exactly an acceptable location.
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May 18th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
I like the idea of a casino, especially in that area. Ban VLT’s from all the bars and clubs in the Greater St. John’s Area and put them in a casino.
I think having VLT’s and such in a casino rather than a bar or club will cut down on people becoming addicted to gambling. If someone has an addiction problem they should have enough sense to stay away from a casino, it’s not as easy to stay away from a bar or a club. A casino can also be moderated by the government.
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May 18th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Dave Lane,
Sydney Nova Sscotia has a casino and only has a population of 25000, I think our city could definitly support one. I also don’t think there are any plans on getting rid of VLT’s, why should there be.
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May 18th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Casinos do not create wealth – they only transfer it from one set of hands to another set, and that other set of hands usually takes it out of the city/province/state/country.
The house always wins in the long run.
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May 20th, 2010 at 10:46 am
How about revamping the space and using it a college of the arts!! It would be amazing for that.It’s in an area tthat would truly inspire AND living space for students is already built in!
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May 20th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Personally, I have no problems with building a casino here. I think it would be a draw for a different sort of tourist than already comes here, although care must be taken that we don’t drive the others away.
As a province, though, I can’t imagine this happening. We already have gambling problems aplenty, and allowing a casino would be downright bizarre as long as the current crusade against VLTs sustains itself.
For now, I’m writing it all off. It’s a cute though, but not a particularly hopeful one. Once someone actually displays an interest in establishing a casino … THEN we’ll have much to talk about.
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December 21st, 2010 at 3:36 am
I think a casino would be good due to it bring more revenue into the province. I work at a casino in Alberta for 3 years, its great but i wish there was one in NL so I can move back home :) and some of my family would move back to NL due to me moving back. It will boost tourism for the province and more jobs cause we all know there is not many jobs there… y do u think i moved to Alberta???
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