You got to know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em..The Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis Commission (AGLC) handed down a decision to keep Camrose Resort Casino from relocating to South Edmonton..On Nov. 15, 2022, the AGLC denied the proposal.."The proposed relocation would ensure revenues would continue to flow to rural charities," the Canadian Strategy Group stated on behalf of Capital City Casinos, which owns the Camrose Resort Casino.."Given the pooling mechanism used by AGLC for the Camrose and St. Albert AGLC-defined regions, the proposed relocation would have benefitted hundreds of thousands of rural Albertans living in communities spanning from the B.C.border to the Saskatchewan border.".According to AGLC data, these two regions have the lowest revenues per gaming event (Camrose: $6,100/event, St. Albert: $8,100/event) and some of the highest event wait times (Camrose: 41 months, St. Albert: 31 months) in the entire province.."By way of comparison, an event in Edmonton will generate $39,000 in revenue and has a wait time of only 23 months," the Canadian Strategy Group said.."As the Camrose Resort Casino struggled to generate a sustainable amount of charitable revenues, AGLC made two decisions that effectively doomed the casino’s financial viability.".According to the Canadian Strategy Group, those decisions were in 2019 and 2022. In 2019, AGLC approved the relocation of the Century Mile Race Track Casino from Edmonton to just 60-km away from the Camrose Resort Casino..Then, in 2022, AGLC also green-lit construction of a new Louis Bull First Nations Casino, which is just 55-km away.."The local market isn’t large enough to support a single gaming facility, let alone three," the Canadian Strategy Group said.."None of the revenue from the First Nations casino or race track casino will support rural charities in the Camrose and St. Albert regions.".The president of the casino said he believes his company was mistreated by AGLC..“AGLC’s unfair treatment of rural charities has been going on for decades, shortchanging rural communities hundreds of millions of dollars. Rural communities and their leaders should be alarmed by their mistreatment by AGLC and the failure by the AGLC Board to approve a relocation that would help to resolve this disparity,” said Jason Pechet, president of Capital City Casino..“The AGLC Board’s decision is as frustrating as it is perplexing, especially given that AGLC management approved the relocation.".The Canadian Strategy Group claimed the AGLC broke its bylaws.."What’s also concerning is that the AGLC Board’s decision doesn’t appear to have followed its own bylaws. The decision was made at an AGLC Board Business Development committee meeting, not an AGLC Board meeting as required," the Canadian Strategy Group said.."The committee does not have the authority to make such a decision. Instead, it can only make a recommendation to the AGLC Board, which then makes the decision. Not only did the AGLC Board overturn its own management’s decision, but it erred in its own process.".Pechet is calling on the AGLC to follow its own rules..“We’re asking AGLC to adhere to its own bylaws and processes by referring the relocation request back to the AGLC Board and Business Development committee for review and making a formal recommendation to the AGLC Board," Pechet said.."We followed AGLC rules through every step of the process, and we expect the AGLC Board to do the same."
