If the planned expansion of the Lake City Casino is approved, Vernon could soon be home to one of the Interior's largest casinos.Gateway Casinos, the company that operates the casino has signed a 10-year lease to occupy the 25,000 square foot ground floor of the Silver Star Centre on Anderson Way. The new location would be twice the size of the existing 12,000 square foot casino in the
Village Green Hotel Steve Kumpf, vice-president of Okanagan operations said the project is still in its very early stages but that the company is hopeful it will be approved. He said the company has submitted a business plan to the B.C. Lottery Corporation for approval."At this stage everything that we're working on is subject to regulatory and city approval so we're not that far yet," he said. "Preliminary indications are favourable but we're still working on more details."Kumpf said the move is designed to bring more entertainment to the gaming facility by adding a restaurant and lounge as well as an area for live performances. He said the additions are based on some improvements that customers have been asking for."We want to broaden the experience from strictly gaming to a more entertainment experience," he said.While the details have yet to be worked out, the new casino could also have up to 400 slot machines, nearly double the 210 slots the current casino has. Kumpf said that the entertainment and gaming experience needs to be improved so that the Vernon casino can continue to compete with gaming facilities around the province."The qualities of the of the gaming properties in the province since we moved into the Village Green have gone up," he said. "We need to keep track of that or we will lose our appeal."With good visibility from Highway 97 and close proximity to several large retailers Kumpf said the new casino would be in a great location and attract more customers."I think we've chosen a good high-traffic, high-profile location," he said. "The surrounding area is quite impressive; it's become almost a big box type of shopping area."Kumpf said that he is expecting to hear a response from the lottery corporation about the business plan that was submitted before the end of the month. He said there is still a lot of work left to do before the casino can move including discussions with the province."We need to work with them at this stage; we need to obtain their blessing for relocation," he said. "That will probably involve consultation with the City of Vernon as well."According to the B.C. Lottery Corporation, the Vernon casino had a revenue of $25,434,238 during the fiscal year 2005-2006. The City of Vernon received more than $1.5 million in revenue from the casino that year.At 25,000 square feet, the new Vernon casino would be larger than the Lake City Casinos in Kamloops, Kelowna and Penticton. The only larger casino in the Interior would be the 33,000 square foot Treasure Cove in Prince George.Kumpf said the company is planning to expand in Kamloops and Kelowna but those projects are not as far along in the process as the Vernon one. +++++++++++++++++++
Don QUIXOTE NOTE:
Gateway Casinos 2nd qrt. results P.19 Vernon Casino The Vernon Casino is currently located in 12,000 square feet at the Village Green Hotel. It was opened in 1998 and no longer reflects the populations’ expectations. The Fund’s plans envision relocating the facility to a newly developed 300,000 square foot neighborhood shopping center located on Highway 97 in the north end of Vernon. This is a high traffic location in the middle of a new large-scale retail and business park development, convenient to the city population and the North Okanagan trading areas. The new casino is anticipated to be located in 25,000 sq. ft of leased space on the ground floor of a brand new three-story building. The Fund is contemplating a facility with up to 400 slot machines and electronic games, a pub-style restaurant/lounge with stage area to host entertainment and promotional events. Subsequent to the end of the second quarter of 2006, the Fund finalized negotiations and entered into a long-term lease for the property. The lease has an initial term of ten years, commencing on the date that the building is complete, and provides for two renewal terms of five years each. The project is expected to take between 16 and 18 months for completion.
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