BARRHEAD - County of Barrhed reeve Doug Drozd said during the Feb. 21 council meeting that he is not feeling very hopeful about the chances of the Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) commission overturning its previous decision to deny Capital City Casinos' request to move its Camrose gaming house to an industrial neighbourhood in Edmonton.
He noted he attended a Feb. 15 Zoom meeting where a consultant laid out the argument for the move.
"If the (move) doesn't happen, the Camrose casino will close," he said. "And because (Barrhead) is pooled with casino in the St. Albert region, our pot will get much smaller and the wait time for events that much longer."
Capital City argued that the move was necessary after the AGLC approved the relocation of the Century Mile Race Track Casino from Edmonton to Nisku, as well as the construction of a new Louis Bull First Nation casino. Both casinos are within 60 kilometres of their Camrose gaming facility.
He added that the AGLC may attempt to appease the rural communities and charities impacted by redistributing them to Red Deer and St. Albert charity casinos.
"Which will hurt them too. There is no upside in this," Drozd said. "The Louis Bull First Nation doesn't put anything into the pooling for charities at all, it goes directly to their First Nation causes, and the Century Mile Casino's move to the race track in Nisku and its proceeds go directly to Horseracing Alberta. So there is nothing left for the charities and the (community hall boards) are going to be in tough when they lose the revenue stream that they are dependent on."
Drozd noted that in addition to the letter the county will be sending to the AGLC lobbying them to reverse their decision, he wrote a letter as an independent resident.
He added that AGLC replied to his letter, and he did not like its tone.
"This smells like they are going to overturn it on a procedural error," Drozd said, noting the letter stated the AGLC decided to end the relocation process by citing a section of the Casino Terms and Conditions Operating Guidelines.
Drozd noted the AGLC was created to be an independent body free from political interference but they denied the Casino City's relocation application because of political pressure.
"The mayor of the City of Edmonton and his council got in there and changed the (AGLC board's minds). They were not going to let it go through," he said. "That and because of pressure from Edmonton's Community Leagues."
