[coolcanadian]

The other thing that was mentioned on the news last night but did not make the Web clip was that if the thing was built on city owned land and leased to a casino developer/operator it could generate as much as $50 million in land lease payments annually.

Of course you could just sell them the land for a much larger, albeit one time only, payment.

I think that they may have said something about that, but I forgot to mention it.

The $50 million per year lease, or higher one-time payment, would be of great help to the city. That does not even include the benefit of jobs created and the money tourists spend.

People need to stop comparing this to smaller casinos. If this is a 5 or 6 billion dollar project, it will be right on par, if not better than, the best of Vegas. It would attract people from all over, and make our amazing city even better.

People will spend money outside of the casino if they come to our city. It could even spark more developments.

 

[Torontovibe]

Coolcanadian, watch and see how foolish you're gong to look when somebody brings up all your postings in 5 years time and everyone sees how easily you fell for the 5 billion con job. Your big, beautiful fantasy will turn into a typical casino, with all the same cheap tacky gimmicks. It will be just as cold, uninviting and pedestrian alienating as all other casinos. Yeah, we can say "we told you so" but it's not going to make any of use feel any better, that a valuable part of Toronto was ruined.

Wait and see, I'll be the first to search and repost this prediction. I guess maybe then you'll understand the meaning of lost innocence.

 

[coolcanadian]

Coolcanadian, watch and see how foolish you're gong to look when somebody brings up all your postings in 5 years time and everyone sees how easily you fell for the 5 billion con job. Your big, beautiful fantasy will turn into a typical casino, with all the same cheap tacky gimmicks. It will be just as cold, uninviting and pedestrian alienating as all other casinos. Yeah, we can say "we told you so" but it's not going to make any of use feel any better, that a valuable part of Toronto was ruined.

Wait and see, I'll be the first to search and repost this prediction. I guess maybe then you'll understand the meaning of lost innocence.

I'm sorry, but I disagree. Toronto is a huge market, and could very well have something great come out of this. WIth so much interest from so many large players in the field (who have built amazing properties elsewhere in the world), this can truly be something our city can be proud of.

I don't know why you need the attitude that "This is Toronto, so this project must be boring and nothing special" or "This is a casino, so this project must be boring and nothing special". There are countless examples of amazing things that have been done in Toronto, and there are countless of amazing casino resorts around the world, that have been built by the companies interested in building here.

I think its about time that Canada gets a world class casino, and why not build that in Toronto?

If this was a project for a 2000 room resort with convention space, restaurants, shows and shopping, then you would not be complaining at all. Nobody would. It would be another awesome addition to the waterfront (or whatever part of downtown it goes in). Having 5% of that development a casino is not going to ruin it, or our city.

Many casinos are beautiful places.

The two options here are simple. If its built in Toronto, it can be a beautiful, huge place that attracts tourists from all over and is used by citizens. If built in Markham (or other suburbs) it will be the cheap, tacky, gimmick that is cold, uninviting and pedestrian alienating casino built by OLG that you speak of.

I assure you that if built downtown for billions of dollars by a world class company, this will not be cheap, tacky or cold.

 

[Automation Gallery]

I assure you that if built downtown for billions of dollars by a world class company, this will not be cheap, tacky or cold.

I agree, we have a great opportunity to build something special here..... I wouldnt give a hoot about all the negativity regarding casinos.
just too many individuals here that are so afraid of changes..
You know whats weird,.....change the present "municipal mayor of Toronto" and these same people would be drooling about such a venue...its all politics.

 

[sixrings]

I'd typically vote left, I did not vote for ford nor do I think he's done a good job. However I am willing to see what the proposal looks like. I don't know why we are automatically against it without knowing all the facts. If the left wants rob to use facts in his discision making then why can't the left at least listen to the proposals. I'm tired of both sides having such partisan politics.

 

[coolcanadian]

No politician is perfect. Whether you agree with our mayor or not, it shouldn't make a difference.

Just because you don't like Ford doesn't mean everything he supports is bad.

What is bad about having a premier tourist attraction in the heart of our city?

If Ford was mayor when the CN Tower was built, you'd probably be against that too.

 

[TOareaFan]

I'd typically vote left, I did not vote for ford nor do I think he's done a good job. However I am willing to see what the proposal looks like. I don't know why we are automatically against it without knowing all the facts. If the left wants rob to use facts in his discision making then why can't the left at least listen to the proposals. I'm tired of both sides having such partisan politics.

And I typically vote on the "right" side of things but could not agree with the bolded part more. There used to be a day when politicing was reserved for election time and governing was the focus in between. These days (at all levels of government) we see people prepping for the next election just as soon as the votes are counted on the last one. I get that people in politics have two jobs...first, get elected and second govern/administer. It just seems to me that the second job (the one that we voters/citizens care most about) is set aside while they constantly work on the first one.

 

[sixrings]

i was just saying that we should see what the proposals are.. why cant we see the proposals then decide... instead it seems we are making a decision before knowing anything more than someone wants to build a casino... i was very sceptical at first however with so many companies trying to go for a casino here there may very well be a good proposal. it shouldnt matter if it originated as a rob ford idea... dont worry one good rob ford idea wont get him re elected.

 

[TOareaFan]

i was just saying that we should see what the proposals are.. why cant we see the proposals then decide... instead it seems we are making a decision before knowing anything more than someone wants to build a casino... i was very sceptical at first however with so many companies trying to go for a casino here there may very well be a good proposal. it shouldnt matter if it originated as a rob ford idea... dont worry one good rob ford idea wont get him re elected.

The interesting thing is that, all of a sudden, we seem to be the darling of the industry and there are some major players interested. Handled properly, this competitive situation could, actually, guarantee that something "special" is developed here. It pre-supposes, though, that there is broad general support for a casino in the first place.....the one thing we do know about all of the propsals that come forward...a casino will be part of it.

 

[coolcanadian]

The interesting thing is that, all of a sudden, we seem to be the darling of the industry and there are some major players interested. Handled properly, this competitive situation could, actually, guarantee that something "special" is developed here. It pre-supposes, though, that there is broad general support for a casino in the first place.....the one thing we do know about all of the propsals that come forward...a casino will be part of it.

So what if a casino will be part of it? People seem to think that a casino will ruin our city. It won't. If this is a great complex, why does it matter if there is a casino? If you don't gamble, like me, then you won't play in the casino part. Most of the gamblers from the GTA that would use this will be people who probably already went to Rama or Niagara. The tourists that come to gamble will benefit our city.

The Ex has a casino during the CNE and it doesn't destroy the city.

The simple thing is, if you do not like the casino part then don't use it.

Hypothetically speaking, for those people who think that a casino will in fact destroy the city, then you should be worried no matter what. The huge increase in crime that will come along with a casino would impact us just as much downtown as it would in Markham.

Of course, I doubt crime will go up, but I'm just making a point.

A casino is being built somewhere in the GTA no matter what. Why not let it be an amazing place that benefits the entire city as a destination, and can be used as non gamblers too.

The days of comparing this to Casino Rama, Niagara Fallsview, Caesar's Windsor, MGM Grand Detroit, and other similar things are over.

This is not what we will be getting if built downtown (however, we probably will see this kind of project in a suburb), and I want to make that very clear.

We should not even compare to any of the casinos shown above.

This is more the scope of project we can expect.

I also want to make it clear that the proposed casino will probably not look like anything pictured above. I am simply using those to show the size and quality we can expect.

Nothing like this has ever been built in Canada, and maybe that's the real reason people are so scared...

 

[spider]

We are asked to believe that more than one established Casino operator in expansion mode is sniffing around Toronto. The assumption is that one of these operators will emerge as the winner of some competition and be anointed as the builder of "THE" Casino.

What if more than one or two or three want to expand into Toronto for whatever reason? So much for Ontario Place or the EX, they are not large enough.

Hello Portlands.

 

[coolcanadian]

We are asked to believe that more than one established Casino operator in expansion mode is sniffing around Toronto. The assumption is that one of these operators will emerge as the winner of some competition and be anointed as the builder of "THE" Casino.

What if more than one or two or three want to expand into Toronto for whatever reason? So much for Ontario Place or the EX, they are not large enough.

Hello Portlands.

I don't think this will happen. They are not trying to build a "strip" here, and I don't know if there is a large enough market for multiple huge developments. I think that one company will build one amazing complex, rather than a few building many complexes. Who knows though?

 

[spider]

I don't think this will happen. They are not trying to build a "strip" here, and I don't know if there is a large enough market for multiple huge developments. I think that one company will build one amazing complex, rather than a few building many complexes. Who knows though?

Who knows, precisely.
I think handing over a prime location exclusively to the first Carpetbagger down the road will pretty much discourage any further developement.

 

[coolcanadian]

Who knows, precisely.
I think handing over a prime location exclusively to the first Carpetbagger down the road will pretty much discourage any further developement.

We should have a competition for the best development proposal, and build that one.

We are very lucky to have such grand companies interested. The fact that there is so much interest means we can really get something great.

 

[jje1000]

We should have a competition for the best development proposal, and build that one.

We are very lucky to have such grand companies interested. The fact that there is so much interest means we can really get something great.

Why are we lucky? Are we begging for a casino?

I'd say that the casino companies are ones who are lucky, because they've struck a goldmine of 'repeat customers'.