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A plan to establish three new gaming centres on the Island with up to 25 video lottery terminals has the Opposition betting the province is planning to establish four “mini casinos” across Prince Edward Island.
Opposition finance critic Jim Bagnall says if the provincial government is serious about reducing the number of video lottery terminals (VLTs), there should only be two gaming centres on the Island, the existing Charlottetown Driving Park Entertainment Centre and a second centre at the track in Summerside.
But the provincial government is only reducing the number of VLT sites from 84 to 42. It is reducing the number of machines from 384 to 308 or a reduction of about 20 per cent.
To reach its goal, the province, through the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, has called for a request for proposals to create three new gaming centres in the province with up to 25 VLTs. This would be in addition to the Charlottetown racino.
But the province contends it will only initially allow up to 15 machines.
“I asked if you were going to be establishing mini casinos in the province and you came out and you told me ‘no, no, no’ you weren’t. Do you still stand by that statement?” Bagnall said during question period Tuesday.
“How can Islanders trust you when you change your story time and time again?”
Provincial Treasurer Wes Sheridan defended his government’s decision to set up the new gaming centres, saying it falls within the province’s gaming strategy. He said it brings down the number of sites that house VLTs.
“It’s been proven that the less sites that are available to those that are challenged with the problem of gambling the better,” said Sheridan.
“If the government wasn’t in charge of these VLTs, somebody else would be standing on this ground.
“It’s not that we’re looking for this money. This is less than one per cent of our revenues and we would clearly give it away in an instant if we could make this go away.”
Bagnall believes the new centres will be located in Dooly’s pool halls in Charlottetown, Summerside and Montague.
Dooly’s was a trial site for the gaming centre in Summerside.
It was given five additional VLTs for a total of 10 but they have since been reduced back to five machines, which is the maximum number of machines now allowed in a single site.
Bagnall said Dooly’s has already expanded in Montague and he expects that will also be chosen as a new gaming centre.
Dooly’s is owned by the Murphy family, which has ties to the governing Liberal party.
Storeowners who have their VLTs pulled will receive compensation, a one-time payment of about 75 per cent of their annual sales.
In an interview, Sheridan said there is no foregone conclusion as to who is going to control the three new proposed gaming houses. He said that decision will lie with Atlantic Lottery.
“Certainly no one has been allocated these machines.”