Pickering’s Durham Live Casino Project To Open

2,819 comments

An upcoming casino resort in the Durham area will be built in Pickering City, and the developer announced on Tuesday that it is now under way for the city’s permission. Ontario Gaming GTAL.P, the company pushing the project, said its current operating casino Ajax will move to a new gambling facility when it opens in late 2019. 슬롯머신

Developers of future casino resorts are now applying for city permits as the property’s location has been chosen after months of uncertainty about the future of Ajax’s existing casinos. The resort’s name, Durham Live, will be located on the Pickering side of the Pickering and Ajax border off Highway 401. It will accommodate not only full-fledged casinos, but also hotels, indoor water parks, convention spaces, as well as movie studios. The complex is expected to create about 2,000 jobs and become a major gambling and tourist destination for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

The agency managing this large project is the Ontario Gaming GTA Limited Partnership, which was established as a partnership between Toronto-based Brookfield Business Partners and the country’s leading gambling and hospitality provider, Great Canadian Gaming Corporation. In fact, Great Canadian Gaming has 25 properties across Canada and the United States. Last year, Ontario Gaming GTAL.P. (OGGLP) was selected by the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corporation (OLG) as the exclusive operator of three gambling houses in the GTA over a 22-year period.

These facilities are Casino Woodbine, Casino Ajax and Great Blue Heron Casino, and OGGLP reserves the right to operate only one casino venue in the Durham area. This means there can be no more than one casino for Pickering, Ajax and Whitby. However, the company plans to expand and comes in the form of Durham Live, a large gambling, retail and hospitality complex that is expected to transform the local economy when it opens.

What’s your plan for Durham Live?
So far, the location of the new casino has not been clear, prompting many Ajax residents to express concerns about it. However, the developer explains that when it opens at the end of 2019, all employees of the existing casino Ajax will be moved to the new facility. In addition to these, the building will employ 1,700 more people in the area. This was announced by Rod Baker, President and CEO of Great Canadian Gaming, in a news release on Tuesday.

Investments worth millions of dollars will bring more construction and operational jobs to people in Ajax and Pickering, which will be a huge boost to the tourism industry and, of course, government revenues, Baker added. Durham Live was designed as a cultural, tourism and commercial center for the Durham area. Large casinos, at least two hotels, retail and meeting spaces, indoor water parks, food stores, and movie studios are included according to news releases.

The developers of OGGLP expect the new casino and hotel complex to have a tremendous impact on the Ajax community as well as Pickering. Local officials are even more optimistic, while the company says future resorts could indirectly create up to 10,000 local jobs. Rep. David Pickles explains that Ontario and OLG are planning improved gambling businesses in the region and that the new casino will perform better, although it has contributed about $75 million since Casino Ajax opened. According to him, Durham, who lives in Pickering, could create up to 15,000 jobs and generate $25 million in annual government revenue.