North Bay City Council has approved the municipality contribution agreement between the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and the city.
Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch told council that it is a standard revenue-sharing agreement.
“Casino revenues shared with host communities beginning with 5.25 per cent of the first $65 million from electronic gaming revenues (slots), and 4 per cent from live table games,” explained Vrebosch.
“Quarterly payments are made to the municipality 21 days after the end of each operating year quarter. We’re expected to hold at least one community event each year to highlight the operator’s annual contributions to the municipality and its allocation for municipal purposes.”
Council voted 7-3 in favour of the agreement.
Councillors Scott Robertson, Marcus Tignanelli and Mark King voted against the motion.
Concerns were raised about a clause that allows the OLG to back out of the agreement at any time, but the same cannot be said for the city.
“In the agreement, OLG can terminate the contract. So, if the Ontario government wants to get out of the gaming business, or the casino business they have that mechanism to do that. We as a municipality do not have a mechanism to get out of the agreement,” said McDonald.
“But if you can imagine, the company has invested $35 million in North Bay. I can’t imagine communities just arbitrarily getting out of the casino business after someone has made a substantial investment.”
McDonald says city staff reviewed similar agreements used in other municipalities.
“It is basically word for word. The things that are really important in the agreement is the revenue sharing, and that is consistent across the board with other municipalities that have a casino that is operated under OLG,” McDonald said.
“Originally we didn’t ask for the casino. It was the provincial government that said it wanted a casino in North Bay. Council did pass in 2012 the motion to accept the casino. Do I think it is a good deal, or not a good deal? I think it is the standard agreement right across the province. We did not have the ability to negotiate any higher.
The mayor said it could mean anywhere from one million to two million dollars in additional revenue.
“We also understand depending on the value of the building that it is assessed at, it could generate anywhere from $500 thousand to $800 thousand and we’re told that it is going to create about 200 jobs. I would say that is a significant amount of revenue for the city.”
Councillor Chris Mayne the city could use the property tax revenue and any other revenues generated from having a casino.
“Especially when we start to look at Casselholme, the library, the police station. We’re looking for everything we can to find as a revenue source, and this realistically is one of them.”
Vrebosch there are still plenty of questions to be answered.
“There is still a lot to move forward with after this agreement with regards to what we will do with our contributions, talking about the linkages with the community with the casino,” said Vrebosch.
“There have been conversations with a local craft brewery to have their beer in the casino. So, you can see they’re trying to make a connection with the community, but again there are still lots of unknowns and lots of questions to be asked as we move forward.”
North Bay's casino is just months away from opening.
