Markham votes against reopening casino debate
Posted May 28, 2013 6:17 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Markham city council has voted against reopening a debate over a proposed casino.
This comes one week after Toronto city council voted 40-4 against a downtown casino and against expansion at Woodbine.
The motion was rejected by a vote of 9-4 Tuesday evening.
City council in Vaughan is also holding a separate meeting to consider a casino.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) wants to build a casino in southern Ontario. It is also considering Mississauga, Milton and Pickering as possible locations.
If a casino is built in Vaughan, it would have a negative effect on Woodbine, Woodbine Entertainment Group CEO Nick Eaves warned.
Without the long-term, sustainable revenue offered by an expansion, Woodbine’s horse racing operations – and, by extension, the entire sector – would be at risk.
“A competing casino in a neighbouring municipality, which could be devastating to our operations, to our core business and to horse racing in Ontario,” Eaves said last week.
