According to the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), the Terrace region will only support one commercial gaming facility. Lucky Dollar Bingo holds a 10-year contract with BCLC to deliver the gaming services in Terrace and also holds the first option for a further 10-year extension to the contract. The term “Commercial Gaming Facility” includes Casinos and Bingo Halls and BCLC has stated that the marketplace would have to have at least 50,000 people to be considered for a second gaming facility.
On February 27, 2008, West Coast Hospitality distributed a news release advising media outlets that they had entered into an agreement with the Terrace Lumber Company to purchase 20 acres of land to develop an entertainment complex along with other facilities. West Coast Hospitality is contracted by BCLC to operate both the Casino in Prince George and the gaming centre, Chances, in Prince Rupert. This has led many to believe, erroneously, that this company will be building a Casino here in Terrace.
At the Terrace City Council meeting of December 10, 2007, a recommendation was put forward by the City Administration to delete the bylaw, which forbid the consideration of slot machines and video lottery terminals (VLT’s) within the boundaries of Terrace. This bylaw is redundant as BC law already requires that the local municipality must grant their approval before BCLC can grant a contract to a gaming facility and VLT’s are already illegal in British Columbia. Terrace City Council created this bylaw as a secondary “stop-gap” measure after a previous application to introduce slot machines to the Terrace area was made and subsequently rejected by the citizens and Councillors. Once the bylaw is deleted Terrace City Council can consider allowing slots within Terrace.
Lucky Dollar Bingo made an application to BCLC to include slot machines in their gaming facility and has requested that Terrace delete this zoning bylaw so that the application can proceed. Terrace City Council and the Administration has decided to hold a Public Hearing on the proposal to delete this bylaw and a Public Input Meeting on the request to allow slot machines concurrently on March 12th in the East Banquet room at the Coast Inn of the West at 6:30 pm.
The timing of this news release by West Coast Hospitality, just prior to the public hearing and input session on the issue, might raise some concerns. Was the timing intentionally made to create a positive atmosphere or one of controversy? As it is clear that only one gaming facility will be allowed in our region and as running gaming facilities is part of the business of West Coast Hospitality the consideration of purchasing the Terrace Lumber Company lands is likely to have some background and long term planning that is not being spoken about in public.
Questions to consider might be: Is West Coast Hospitality considering making an offer to purchase Lucky Dollar Bingo to secure the gaming contract? Did the owners of the Terrace Lumber Company lands encourage the Administration to make the recommendation that this bylaw be deleted to facilitate the land sale? Is it the new make up of the Terrace City Council that has made this consideration possible? Will the Public Input Meeting and Public Hearing on the issue have any effect on the decisions that will be taken by the Terrace City Councillors?
We include below the exact wording of the news release by West Coast Hospitality, which makes no mention of a Casino or a Gaming Facilility. The talk about town however suggests that there is a game being played and some may be seen to be gambling on the outcome.
February 27th, 2008
WestCoast Hospitality Inc. and the Terrace Lumber Company have come to an agreement that would see WestCoast purchase 20 acres of land from the Terrace Lumber Company as well as an option to purchase the remaining lands held by the company.
The lands held by the Terrace Lumber Company comprise of approximately 73 acres in the heart of Terrace, British Columbia, located at 4900 Keith Avenue. The lands were formerly used as a sawmill and log storage facility.
WestCoast Hospitality Inc. intends to use the initial purchase of lands to develop a hotel, convention centre and entertainment complex with the additional lands to be used for small retail, restaurants, box stores as well as a residential development.
'The Terrace Lumber Company lands present a great opportunity where a full comprehensive development can occur in the heart of a city, with proximity to the existing shopping and retail sector and on a major highway' stated WestCoast President and CEO, Craig Briere. Briere also 'feel(s) that Terrace has a tremendously bright future and with the developments in Prince Rupert (container port), Kitimat (Alcan) and mining to the North, Terrace is perfectly situated to continue to be the service centre of Northwest British Columbia.'
WestCoast Hospitality Inc. is a northern BC based hospitality development and management company that currently owns and operates hotels, restaurants, convention centre, and a community gaming centre. WestCoast Hospitality is the owner/operator of the Coast Prince Rupert Hotel (Prince Rupert, BC), the majority shareholder of Chances Prince Rupert (Prince Rupert, BC), and WestCoast ownership is the majority shareholder of the Treasure Cove Hotel (Prince George, BC).