Crystal Garden will not be an option for a new casino in Victoria
A convention area that is located in Crystal Garden has been under consideration to be used as a new casino venue. Crystal Garden is located in Victoria within British Columbia, and would allow for the second casino in the area to be built should an operator gain approval to use the site to set up a new venue. Local officials have determined that the convention center is no longer going to be considered to be turned into a casino, with this decision resulting from the long and difficult process involved.
The Deputy City Manager for Victoria is Jocelyn Jenkyns, and she stated that an official working for the British Columbia Lottery Corp. told her that it was going to be a painfully long process in order to have the spot turned into a casino. Alongside that, there was an issue with parking. The BCLC believes that there isn’t enough room for parking at the site, even though Jenkyns has stated that it does have underground parking available. Although this specific position has been ruled out, that doesn’t mean that the idea of a second casino in the area has been terminated because it is still quite likely that another spot will be chosen.
Many residents are likely happy about the decision to not allow a casino to be built in the Crystal Garden location. There was a lot of opposition to a new casino being built in this venue from the locals, and many advocated against it. Residents spammed the emails of officials who had some say in the decision, stating that they were not thrilled about the idea of the Crystal Garden site being turned into a gambling location.
Earlier in the year the BCLC had made a statement citing that Victoria was the chosen location for a second casino within the area, although they haven’t given a specific time frame for when this is going to happen and are still looking for the right place to put it. Crystal Garden was a known possible selection for quite some time. Officials had been looking into the area to assess whether it would fit the bill. Some things that needed to be considered was the amount of traffic that the area got, how attractive the location would be to tourists, what available parking and facilities could be used to support the business, and whether or not the local government would be happy with bringing in another gaming location in this spot.
Any area that is chosen for the new casino will have to go through all of these same assessment factors plus many that haven’t been mentioned. This makes the process take quite a bit of time, but it’s the job of the BCLC to regulate casinos and do what’s best for businesses and the local economy in these areas.
The next area going under consideration will be the Sannich District, which might be the next host for a brand new casino.