Last week, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced that the city of Toronto may be considering opening up a new casino. Almost immediately after the announcement, politicians from Niagara Falls spoke out against the idea. Now, local Torontonians are voicing their concerns about the construction of a new casino in the city.
According to The Toronto Star, a new casino would be bad for the province overall, despite boosting government profits. The report states that it would be useless in boosting the province’s profits while harming Ontario’s existing gambling venues.
Competition is already steep for casinos that already exist in Ontario. After Windsor built its casino, Detroit built three to keep tourism dollars in the country. The same thing happened when a new casino popped up across the border from Fallsview. A new casino in Toronto would simply add to the competitive market and subtract profits from casinos that are already struggling to survive.
The Toronto Star also states that a new casino would not help to boost the economy, as visitors would not be pumping additional revenue back into the government. The report states that they would simply be spending money that would be used at other local venues, like restaurants, theatres and bars.
The local government has yet to reveal more details about the construction of the new casino. Duncan has stated that the OLG will be conducting a study to determine the feasibility of building a new casino in Toronto.
