By Jeff Nagel - The Tri-City News Published: March 19, 2009(excerpt below)
B.C. now has more than 10,000 slot machines — four times as many as when the B.C. Liberals were first elected pledging to halt gambling expansion. And casino-style gambling continues to rise quickest in the Lower Mainland. The number of slots in this region rose 22% in the past year to 6,146 following the opening of a major new casino and the conversion of more former bingo halls to slot-equipped mini-casinos. And that is poised to climb further with the opening of a new Community Gaming Centre (CGC) with at least 100 slots under construction in Abbotsford. Another planned CGC in Maple Ridge is temporarily on hold due to the economic downturn. And another being planned in Surrey with 150 slots has not yet come to city council for approval while a fourth is proposed in Squamish on aboriginal reserve land. They would join existing CGCs opened with slots two years ago in Mission and last year in Langley. Most of the newest slots came with the opening of the Grand Villa Casino in Burnaby, plus the of addition of more slots at Hastings Park racetrack in Vancouver and Langley's Cascades Casino.
Rich Coleman, B.C.'s Minister of Housing and Social Development who has responsibility for gaming, won't put a firm cap on the number of slot machines B.C. should ultimately have. He said the market for gambling in the province is still under-served but he sees no grounds to expand further. "I think we're pretty close to where we need to be," he said in an interview. "I wouldn't be a minister that would say, 'Let's do more'." Besides the additional CGCs proposed and a possible relocation of an older casino in Kamloops, Coleman said there is technically room for another new casino, but any such approval would require a "very good, compelling case." The Liberals were elected in 2001 on a platform that promised to "stop the expansion of gambling" launched under the NDP that had "increased gambling addiction and put new strains on families." Back then there were 2,400 slots province-wide. Today there are 10,154.
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