TheBulletin.ca Journal of Downtown Toronto
A great number of us have visited a casino at one point or another. Happy sounds come from the slot machines, the lighting is just right, the seating is comfy, free drinks are offered and there are no windows or clocks. It’s a superficial, if not surreal, kind of blissfulness.
While at the casino, I spend more time watching people play. For me, observing people is half the fun—perhaps owing, in part, to my university studies in sociology. But I also see desperation on a number of faces.
It seems obvious to me when the gamblers have come straight from work after getting paid with high hopes of winning it big. People go to the casino with hopes of winning—but more often than not, of course, they go home with less money in their pockets and profound disappointment. When all is lost, their looks of despair are unsettling to witness.
We need to ask ourselves: What is socially good about having a casino in our community? Who will it hurt? Who will it benefit? What are the long-term effects that it will have on our communities?
It has been predicted that gambling addiction will double in Toronto to 280,000 at-risk gamblers. It is the poor and most vulnerable in society who will pay the ultimate price. They will be the majority who will be frequenting the casino.
And gambling will not only affect the individual gamblers, but the families who depend upon them. A terrible rippling effect will follow in the form of crime, dependence on social assistance, poor mental health, suicides and torn-apart households.
We know from research that people who visit casinos do not typically venture into the local community and shop. Instead, they tend to go with one purpose in mind and then leave when all their money is lost.
As a member of the Toronto community, and as a small business owner myself, I worry about the future of small businesses around any new casino that might be built. They will be imperiled for a number of reasons.
People—especially locals—who normally frequent the area will come to avoid it because of crippling automotive traffic. Similarly, locals may not want the headache of having to deal with the constant crowds of people.
Recently, MGM hosted a job fair in Toronto and stated that, with a casino, it will create up to 10,000 jobs. People flocked to the event in hope of signing up and being interviewed for a job. To the disappointment of many, however, they were told to petition their local city councillor to approve the casino so the jobs can become a reality.
Indeed, a great deal of arm-twisting is taking place, along with a great deal of financial resources to make sure that the casino is built.
It’s rumoured that if city council rejects the casino bid, then the bid will be taken to the Ontario Municipal Board which has a long history of overriding community concerns and wishes. If this route is taken, it would be a massive slap in the face to the people of Toronto.
The co-founders of “No Casino Toronto,” Peggy Calvert and Maureen Lynett, have vowed to fight to the very end. The No Casino Toronto coalition has received a great deal of support from their counterpart in Vancouver which, in 2011, was able to help stop a 74,000-square-metre casino entertainment centre. Vancouver’s city council voted unanimously against building a casino in the city’s downtown.
The Vancouver outcome is encouraging to those in Toronto who don’t want a casino in their backyard.
Yes, a casino will create a number of construction jobs and will employ a number of people when it is built. And the city will get an initial lump sum of cash at some point. However, the main beneficiary of the casino will be the corporation that builds the casino. The provincial government will gain some cash, too.
If a casino is approved, the floodgates may open for other gambling venues across the city.
Personally, I think our waterfront area should be developed for all the people of Toronto to use, not sealed off for private enterprises. We have already lost far too much of our waterfront to private “development.”
It is time, therefore, that we put our feet down and oppose MGM and others who so aggressively come into our city and try to alter its character in such drastic and destructive ways for their own benefit.
I am encouraged to see more and more “NO Casino Toronto” signs on people’s lawns and in their windows. And I am confident that the opposition will only become more widespread across the city as the debate continues to heat up.
