I went to the dark side and I’m happy to report that I returned unscathed.
My never-ending quest to visit as many racetracks as possible took me to Alberta last week where I visited the soon-to-be-shuttered Northlands Park in Edmonton and the recently-opened Century Downs in Calgary. Both tracks are also home to casinos, or in the case of Century Downs, it’s more like a racetrack is attached to the rear of a large gambling hall.
Over the course of five days I spent a considerable amount of time in and around the two casinos -- in Edmonton because it had the best food options and in Calgary because you can’t get to the track or the racebook without navigating a sea of slot machines. I’m relieved to tell you that not only wasn’t I robbed, propositioned or poked with a needle, but I always left with gas and food money still in my wallet, although that might not have been the case had I spent more than a cumulative 10 minutes playing the slots.
What struck me most about the two casinos – one of which is shiny and new while the other is a bit of a darkened afterthought – is that both appeared to be playing host to CARP conventions. I didn’t conduct a census but the dividing line between young and old appeared to be whether you required a walking and/or breathing apparatus or if you could accomplish both of those functions on your own.
I admit that I was most often there during the day or the early evening, and neither casino has much in the way of entertainment or dining options that might otherwise attract a younger crowd, but the notion these were somehow dens of iniquity is a stretch beyond all imagination.
That’s not to say pension cheques weren’t being squandered by those in search of that elusive jackpot, but the unsavoury elements, those that are supposed to pull our fair city into the gutter when Gateway opens a casino in Ladner in a couple of years, were difficult to find.
Maybe I wasn’t looking in the right places, or perhaps I was blinded by the glare off all the blue hair, but I didn’t get the sense that the goings on at the casinos were endangering anyone or were sending neighbouring property values into the toilet.
They’re not churches, I get that, but the end of the world is not at hand.
