Delta council’s final approval of Gateway’s $70-million casino complex has given Richmond officials another opportunity to trot out a laundry list of self-serving and transparent reasons why it’s in the wrong spot.
For some strange reason, the Gaming Control Act includes a dispute resolution process that kicks in after a local government has given final approval to a casino, and Richmond is going to use this faint hope clause to reiterate its objection to the B.C. Lottery Corporation.
Among its concerns is the notion that the Delta Town & Country Inn site, where the casino is to be built, is not well served by transit so it will become a car-oriented destination. That’s correct, but if development only took place in areas that had adequate transit service, well, there might not be a Delta, at least not one we’d recognize. What’s more, I can’t believe everyone who frequents the River Rock in Richmond arrives by public transportation or the resort wouldn’t have in excess of 1,500 parking spots.
The worry about agriculture is equally spurious. The present hotel has been there for decades without spurring development on adjacent farmland, so it’s hard to see how replacing it with a casino complex will somehow change that. If Malcom Brodie and Co. are so concerned about farmland, they might want to reconsider their ill-conceived mega-house policy that is doing far more to harm agricultural land than a Delta casino ever could.
There are other worries about crime, traffic and more, but what this is really about is Richmond protecting the not-so-insignificant revenue stream it gets from the River Rock. Having received more than $200 million in gaming revenue over the last two decades, Richmond doesn’t want anything to jeopardize that gravy train, so it views the pending competition from just across the Fraser River as being a little too close for comfort.
I suspect cleaning up the money laundering mess will have a far greater financial impact than losing any customers to a new casino in Ladner, but I guess with that overdue hit now underway, Richmond doesn’t want to endure a double whammy. That’s too bad because it’s only a matter of time now and there’s nothing a pile of see-through excuses can do about it.
