BC - “Casino wants to double size serve liquor on game floor”
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=51194741-817c-4678-af62-1b9436bb45fc
Plans also call for live entertainment, poker room at View Royal facility
Bill Cleverley and Louise Dickson, Times Colonist, Friday, September 28, 2007
The Great Canadian Casino in View Royal is planning a significant expansion that would see it almost double its floor space, build a lounge for live entertainment and add a teletheatre where patrons could watch sporting events and bet on live horse races.
But whether it will get municipal council’s approval to serve alcohol throughout the building — even on the gaming floor — is anyone’s bet.
“We are proposing a full-service lounge in which I believe we will get liquor approval. Obviously, we would like to be able to get liquor approval throughout the entire facility as we have with our other properties in Richmond and Coquitlam,” said Howard Blank, Great Canadian’s vice-president of media and entertainment.
Indeed, Blank says the expanded casino would be patterned after the successful River Rock Casino in Richmond.
But any proposal to serve liquor on the gaming floor would be “hotly debated” by municipal council, View Royal Mayor Graham Hill said yesterday. Council needs to sign off on the expansion before it can go ahead.
“Council has a good regard for the GCC and the way they run their business. … The lottery corporation has a messaging campaign that says ‘play within your limits.’ I know that members of council have a sense that liquor on the gaming floor could interfere with judgment.”
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