North Bay City Council voted 8-3 (see video below) in favour of proceeding with a casino development.
The vote took place after two hours of public presentations at City Hall last night.
https://www.facebook.com/MyNorthBayNow/videos/352302368918462/
Every one of the many presenters spoke against the casino being approved.
Some shed light on social concerns while others worried about the strain on police, fire, and paramedics to be stretched to cover a larger service area.
Ironically, members of service groups and sports organizations said there would be a lack of disposable income for gamblers to spend on the local bingos that support those groups.
These are all points that have been raised before in the drawn-out casino process.
In the end Councillor Mark King, Scott Robertson and Marcus Tignanelli voted against the casino project. King has long spoken out against it but both Tignanelli and Robertson (see attached video) spoke eloquently on the subject and it was unclear until the vote itself where they stood.
King filed a notice of reconsideration, meaning a vote will be taken at the next meeting of Council without deliberation to see where the votes stand on the casino issue but this is likely just a formality.
There are many details yet to be worked out on this project and no representative from Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited spoke at the Special Meeting of Council.
Many of the particulars, such as the number of (and type of) jobs created have yet to be announced by Gateway. What was decided last night is that the City of North Bay will be the home of a new casino on Pinewood Park Drive within the next two years.
