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N.B. casino will top Halifax

Finance minister says Moncton casino will be 'bigger and more elaborate'
Times & Transcript Staff

Finance Minister Victor Boudreau can't get into any of the specifics of the plans for a casino in Moncton until an agreement with proponent Sonco Gaming New Brunswick Ltd. is signed.

But he did let one thing slip.

"It will really be a destination casino complex, much bigger and more elaborate than what is in Halifax, for example," he says.

Boudreau says cabinet was able to get a glimpse of the casino design yesterday morning and says Monctonians will definitely like it.

"From what I've seen, I certainly think it is something that is going to fit in well," he says. "It is a very nice design."

Boudreau says they now have two months to sign the service provider agreement with Sonco, but hopes it will happen sooner rather than later.

"We want them to start and they want to get started," he says, adding that once the agreement is signed, all of the details of the project will be released.

"There are other components of this proposal in terms of New Brunswick content and some other pretty interesting things for the province and the Moncton area that we'll be able to release," he says, giving Monctonians a tease of potentially better things to come.

Although Boudreau would not reveal the exact site in Magnetic Hill, insiders say the likely location is a 70-acre piece of land on Charles Lutes Road at Mountain Road.

No building permits have yet been issued for the development.

Greg Neate, general manager of the Magnetic Hill Golf Club, says the addition of a casino in his end of the city can only mean good things for the club.

"The more traffic and the more hospitality we can offer in the north end, the better for the golf course," he says, already envisioning a partnership with the casino that could see green fees traded for loyalty points awarded to frequent customers or other such arrangements.

Neate says the casino will just be one more draw to an area of the city that already has plenty of family-oriented activities and accommodations, making it a perfect vacation destination.

Mark Jelley, general manager of Magic Mountain, doesn't expect the casino will have a positive impact on his business.

"Our customers are families at Magic Mountain, we provide a place for families to come together and have fun and we believe that casinos bring a different target market, they're not bringing in families, it's not the same market, not the same focus," he says. "We don't see it as a complementary business."

On the other hand, Jelley doesn't expect the development to have a negative impact, though he says that may depend on the actual location of the casino and its effect on traffic patterns.

The casino complex will include a convention centre facility that will be able to seat 1,500 people in a theatre setting or 1,400 banquet-style.

Moncton has been trying to get a convention centre built in its downtown for years now. Boudreau says it will be up to the city to decide if it still needs the downtown convention centre space. Another major project that has been discussed for the downtown is a replacement for the aging Moncton Coliseum.

"Maybe that is something that can be looked at as a substitute or maybe at the end of the day the city will feel a downtown convention centre is still justifiable," Boudreau says. "The province will continue to work with the city as we've always done in helping them move forward with their priorities."

Boudreau says the province had no preference for downtown Moncton versus the outskirts of Moncton or vice versa.

The request for proposals did not specify any area of the province in order to allow the market to determine the best location.

"Having received four proposals all in the Moncton-Dieppe area, it was a pretty clear indication that southeastern New Brunswick was the place to be," Boudreau says. "We didn't look at uptown versus downtown, we had a series of criteria that were applied to all four proposals."

In other words, location wasn't the main deciding factor, the quality of the proposal was.

I could care less about the casino part itself but what interests me the most is the "Palladium" that is going to house an 1800 seat theatre with removable seats in order to host bigger shows. They are also pairing with a booking agency to bring in up to 60 shows a year - probably similar in scope to what Casino Nova Scotia brings in.

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Casino eyes million visitors a year

Enterprise Greater Moncton touts city's economic success at annual breakfast

BY ALAN COCHRANE
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF
Published Thursday June 18th, 2009

Metro Moncton's new casino is expected to draw upwards of a million visitors a year, create over 400 jobs and pump many millions of dollars into the local economy.

Enlarge Photo GREG AGNEW/TIMES & TRANSCRIPTMichael Novac It will also help change New Brunswick from a "drive-through" province into a destination, developer Michael Novac told about 400 of Metro Moncton's business movers and shakers during a downtown breakfast meeting yesterday.

"The casino will benefit other businesses around it," he said.

Novac, president of the Sonco Group of Halifax, said the casino expects to draw roughly 845,000 visitors in its first year of operation and grow from there as it becomes more popular as a destination for bus tours, conventions and special events. The casino is now under construction near Magnetic Hill and is expected to open next spring.

The complex will include the casino, palladium and hotel/restaurant buildings connected together with such features as a 68-seat restaurant, spa, pool and gymnasium.

Novak said yesterday that developers kept the number of rooms to a rather low 128 so it would spread the benefits to other businesses around it. He said this is a different approach than is used in places like Las Vegas where individual casino complexes do all they can to capture and hold customers (and their money) for the entire length of their stay.

The $90-million casino is being built without government funding but the provincial government stands to get about $25 million a year from the casino's gaming revenue. The province's piece of the action was guaranteed when the Request For Proposals for the casino clearly stated that money from the gambling operations would be split 50-50 between the casino owner and the provincial government.

The situation is the same across the country with the exception of Saskatchewan and Ontario which give a small percentage to the municipalities.

Mayor George LeBlanc says it would be nice if the city could get some of that money and put it toward fixing roads or perhaps building a new downtown Metro Events Centre. The casino project promises to give the city about $1.62 million a year in property taxes, but LeBlanc says the responsibility still falls on the city to provide police, fire protection and other infrastructure to support it.

When it opens next spring, the casino complex will employ about 400 people, many of whom will be moving to Moncton. The palladium will include an entertainment complex capable of seating about 1,800 people but the seats will be removable to accommodate an even larger standing crowd for concerts and shows. The casino is partnering with a booking agency to bring in about 60 shows a year.
Novac said the casino will promote itself as a destination to tourists, convention planners and tour operators in Canada and especially in Maine, which, in turn, should help Metro Moncton. Other casinos, like the one in Halifax, regularly offer cut-rate bus tours to attract visitors on day trips.

The casino will be the first of its kind in New Brunswick and be complete with an iconic lighthouse tower as part of its design. He said Moncton was best suited for the casino because of it is a positive and forward-thinking progressive community that is investment friendly.

Novac was guest speaker yesterday as Enterprise Greater Moncton staged its ninth annual Community Development Breakfast, celebrating the city's ability to continue booming in the shadow of economic crisis.

The breakfast drew a full house of over 400 from Metro Moncton's business community. The event took on the theme of a television talk show hosted by Mark Crandall, complete with a Top 10 list poking some good-natured fun at our bilingual culture, the chocolate river and the number of Tim Hortons locations, while reminding everyone of this summer's big events like outdoor concerts by Bon Jovi and AC/DC.

The talk show theme was in keeping with EGM's new slogan of "Need help starting your business? Let's Talk."

Staff members of Enterprise Greater Moncton provided updates on the development organization's achievements in attracting new business and helping existing businesses grow.

Eric Pelletier, EGM's manager of business attraction, said 14 new companies have moved into town recently, creating 149 new jobs, but most growth is coming through existing companies that have created 550 new jobs.

While more economic challenges are expected through this year and next, Pelletier said most businesses are predicting growth in sales and employee numbers.

Metro Moncton has also seen an influx of new immigrants, especially from Korea.

Economic growth is also seen through major building projects like the casino, the courthouse, Riverview's Fundy Chocolate River Station and the Dieppe Aquatic Centre.

Thompson said the event applauded Metro Moncton's ability to maintain economic growth despite the recession that has hit so many other communities in North America, thanks mainly to our diversified economy.

"Things are still going very well. There's still a lot of optimism out there. Companies are still being innovative, they're still being competitive within their marketplace. And if we're doing well during the recession, when we start seeing the recessing fade away, our companies are going to be in an even better position than anyone else in the marketplace."

EGM chief executive officer John Thompson said Enterprise Greater Moncton is stepping up its mission to draw new business into the local economy and work with franchises to make sure they find the right location and the right people to move ahead quickly with their plans.

Over the next year, EGM will continue to focus on business retention and expansion.

Thompson predicts 80 per cent of the growth will come from existing businesses and 20 per cent from new companies moving in.

And with unemployment in the three to five per cent range, Thompson says a shortage of workers remains a real challenge.

"We have to make sure we continue to attract quality workers into our community and that's something that we'll always have to work on, and our companies are going to have to remain competitive when it comes to salaries.

"The days of paying somebody $8 an hour just doesn't work any more, especially when you get skilled workers. There's going to be pressures in the next six to eight months when you have competition from Saint John Point Lepreau II, a new refinery, that will put pressure on the workers here trades people professionals and engineers, and we want to make sure that the people here remain competitive."