Toronto was recently notified that the revenues it had been told earlier were actually going to be much less. The new report estimates that the city can only expect a provincial hosting fee somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million a year from a proposed downtown resort and casino. This amount is less than what earlier consultant’s from the casino proponents had suggested. They had said that the city could expect around $200 million per year.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation has now confirmed that the new estimate of $100 million (or less) for the city was compiled and is now ready for public consultation concerning the future of the new project. Public meetings are expected to start within the next few weeks. The new data could mean problems for this project and will certainly make it harder to get a deal when the council meets.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his executive committee approved back in November of 2012 to have the consultations after it had received an Ernst & Young report that suggested that the Canadian province could see up to (and possibly more than) $200 million per year from the project. At that time, the committee directed the city manager to refine those estimates before the proposal was given for public consultation. As one might image, the local government was happy to see that so much money might be finding its way into the city’s coffers. This new data has put a damper on that.
Mayor Ford has said in the last that he supports a new casino if it brings in job and money to the city which is in a looming crisis. According to the city manager, the original numbers suggested by the Ernst and Young study would have gone a long way in helping to get the city budget back on track. The lowered estimate came about when potential site fees and casino operation costs were reanalyzed. The actual amount of fees that Toronto would see would depend on the actual size of the capital cost for the project building. In other words, the more the facility would cost the more Toronto would get.
The public will receive information on the new data and will then vote yes or no for the casino. The vote will take place on March 20. Afterwards, in April, the city council has its own vote on the project. Some council members have already expressed concern over the new numbers stating that they may not be reliable either. Two major obstacles to the project are increased traffic and a lack of adequate parking in the area.
As of this writing, the debate continues and it is not at all certain that this project will move forward given several members of the city council had already opposed it. And this was before the news of decreased revenues was brought to light. It is not clear at this point how the local residents feel about the new casino and resort. That should become more evident once the public vote takes place in March.