The City of North Bay has received its first quarterly gaming revenue payment associated with Cascades Casino.
A cheque for $111,000 was presented to Mayor Al McDonald at Thursday’s grand opening and ribbon-cutting event at the gaming and entertainment facility.
Tony Bitonti, OLG Director of Media Relations, says the payment covers the period from when the casino held its soft opening on March 9th until March 31st.
“The casino opened on March 9th, the quarter ended March 31st, so we count those 23 days. $111,134 is a fantastic amount of money that goes directly to the community and they’re going to do with that money what they want to do,” he says.
Mayor McDonald says it won’t be this council that decides what the money will be spent on.
“We’re anticipating receiving between one and two million dollars each and every year. We need to develop a policy on where that money will be spent so what we’re going to do is put that money into a reserve and the next council will set that policy on how they want to invest the money moving forward,” he says.
McDonald says Cascades Casino and the North Bay Battalion are the only two revenue-sharing partners the city has.
On top of providing the municipality with gaming revenue, the local casino employs over 200 people.
