The old hotel is coming down.
Delta Town & Country Inn owner Ron Toigo confirmed this morning the hotel at the junction of highways 17A and 99 is to be demolished today. By noon a small section had already come down.
The complex is to be replaced with a $70 million hotel/casino.
Cascades Casino Delta, operated by Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited, will include a hotel, restaurants, meeting space and a casino with approximately 500 slot machines, 24 table games and up to six electronic table games.
In 2016, The B.C. Lottery Corporation concluded an Expression of Interest process in the south of the Fraser region to relocate the Newton Community Gaming Centre, which closed permanently in April 2018. BCLC later selected the City of Delta as its preferred host local government for a new gambling and entertainment facility and, together with Gateway, subsequently developed a proposal for the Delta Town & Country Inn site.
In May 2018, Delta provided its final approval of the proposed casino. As per the Gaming Control Act, the city was subsequently required to notify adjacent local governments, which then had the opportunity to object to the proposed facility.
The City of Richmond filed an objection with BCLC expressing crime, traffic and transportation concerns, which trigged BCLC’s legislative requirement to implement a non-binding dispute resolution process and appoint an independent, third-party mediator to address issues raised in the objection.
BCLC received a report last fall which concluded that the Richmond did not provide supporting documentation to substantiate its concerns. The lottery corporation then finalized its approval of the project.
Meanwhile, Delta council is now seeking more clarity and action from both provincial and federal governments on the impacts of money laundering and crime connected to the casino industry.
The civic politicians last month approved several staff recommendations that reiterate the need for senior governments to implement policies and regulations to resolve the issue of money laundering in casinos and to conduct a comprehensive review of cashless gaming systems.
