Michael Smyth
Province
Paragon Gaming brought Las Vegas’ Excalibur (left) and Luxor (right) into the world. Now its rumoured to have its sights on the B.C. Place lands. Sixteen years, ago similar plans for casino development were decried by today’s government. – ROY WOOD — PNG archives
It was 16 years ago that a smooth-talking Las Vegas gambler named Steve Wynn blew into Vancouver with a fat roll of money burning a hole in his pocket and big dreams bubbling in his head for a waterfront hotel, casino and convention centre.
The Vegas gambling impresario was ready to drop $1 billion on his Seaport Centre extravaganza, which would have included a cruise ship berth, a 1,000-room hotel, high-end retail shops, a permanent $25-million stage for Canada’s Cirque du Soleil troupe and, naturally, a large casino.
And that convention centre? He would have thrown that in for free.
Oh, to think what could have been — now that we’re drowning in $800-million worth of red ink at our new, over-budget, government-built convention centre!
Unfortunately, we ran Steve Wynn out of town faster than you can say “double down.” The mid-1990s was a weird time in B.C. — when “casino” was still a dirty word, and the involvement of a flashy shark-in-a-suit from Sin City freaked out the politicians in our sheltered little provincial town.
Flash forward to our post-Olympic appetite for fun, fun, fun and the B.C. government appears ready to roll the dice again on a Vegas-backed gambling mecca, this one to be built next to a renovated B.C. Place stadium.
In Friday’s newspaper, I brought you exclusive details of the government’s still-secret deal with a private-sector partner to develop the B.C. Place lands. The grapevine is burning with whispers of a supersized hotel-retail-casino complex to be directly attached to the stadium, which is being pimped out with a $563-million retractable roof.
Once again, Las Vegas is in the house. This time, the whispered player is Paragon Gaming, run by the daughter of another famous Vegas tycoon, William Bennett, who brought the world the gaudy pleasures of the Circus Circus, Excalibur and Luxor casinos on the Vegas strip.
Paragon Gaming currently owns the downtown Edgewater Casino, which is near B.C. Place, but has been hindered by the lack of parking and street access. The Edgewater would presumably be shut down, and operations moved to the new facility to be built on the 700,000-square-foot parking lot between the stadium and the Cambie Street bridge.
There are more than a few ironic twists to the story. Back in 1994, Wynn’s Mirage Resorts partnered up with local developer VLC Properties to push the Seaport Centre casino project.
The president of VLC properties back then was David Podmore, who is now the government’s chairman of B.C. Place. Sixteen years after his Seaport Centre dreams were dashed, it looks like Podmore will finally get his casino.
The dasher of those dreams was then-premier Mike Harcourt. “Such facilities would be out of step with the quality of life British Columbians expect and value so highly,” Harcourt said in announcing the NDP government of the day would not approve the casino.
Gordon Campbell, then the leader of the Opposition, also opposed the Seaport project because of the public backlash against the evils of gambling.
“I have grave concerns about the openness of this process and the public perception of it,” Campbell said, insisting the entire concept of for-profit casinos should be put to a provincewide referendum. (Only small charity casinos were allowed at the time.)
One of the people sorely disappointed by Campbell’s stand back then was the late Jack Poole, then the chairman of VLC Properties. Many were surprised that Campbell didn’t support his friend Poole. “You know, in the world of politics, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised about anything,” Poole sighed.
Meanwhile, Steve Wynn’s people back in Vegas were appalled at the treatment they received in B.C. After all, all they wanted to do was come up here and spend a billion dollars.
“Our company was treated with the utmost disrespect, told that our product was not welcome and sent home,” huffed Alan Feldman, Wynn’s PR man.
The Liberals were unapologetic, as they continued to savagely criticize gambling as a social cancer.
“Children may die as a result of gambling expansion, and their blood will be on the heads of the government,” warned Liberal MLA Kevin Krueger.
Yes, that’s the same Kevin Krueger who is now the cabinet minister in charge of — you guessed it — the B.C. Place expansion.
But all that was before large casinos like the River Rock were built and accepted in British Columbia.
It was before Poole delivered the transcendent Olympic Games, changing Vancouver’s image as a “no-fun city” — and now nobody seems worried about casino gambling or Las Vegas sharpies anymore.
Expect an official announcement of the B.C. Place expansion plans within two weeks.
Oh, and by the way, we probably won’t be calling it B.C. Place for a lot longer. The renovated stadium, set to open in 2011, will likely be renamed after a corporate sponsor.
Anyone care for few hands of blackjack over a latte down at Starbucks Stadium?
My, how we’ve changed.
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