My good heavens! Where does John get all the money?

For me, the fact that he will be re-building a better designed show lounge makes a considerable difference in his proposal. I wonder why that was not part of the original information release about the project.

The Days Inn scenario has been rumoured and written about for some time, of course. So now it may be happening if the offer is good enough for the owner to sell.

Next thing we know, he will be building the Major Centre for the Performing Arts.

From legions of sad, stupid people.

He takes it, bumps some glorified hush money to the provincial and municipal governments , throws local charities a few bones to show that he's a good guy, and pockets the rest.

He even gets local mouthpieces to call it 'economic development' (with a straight face).

And does this mean he is going to extend the size of his bingo hall already???

I think he and his businesses have devistated more than enough lives already!

Will the city step in and slow hime down,
NOT LIKELY!...way too much money changing hands....

I see yet another trip to Mexico in someones future.

While the proceeds from licensed gambling are in fact legally obtained, there remains the moral question; in the interest of 'jobs' and taxation, are we in fact gaining from legalized gambling, as a society? Who can tell? certainly not Mr.Major, an unbiased (public) opinion from that gentleman might be akin to finding evidence of molars in a hen's mug.
And not from 'the government' As is mentioned above, there is a lot of money being spread around. I for one, am not convinced that gambling, as a growth industry of the present and future, is healthy for our people and our economy as a whole. One need only look to Las Vegas (lost wages) for an example of the vast gulf between the regular working stiff or stiffette, and the ones at the top of the food chain. There is poverty aplenty in Las Vegas, and it is not far removed from the glitter of the Strip. Is British Columbia to become the next gambling mecca? and will we reap what has thus been sown? Be alert, it is coming.
metalman.

It is not coming, it is here now.

-Just a note, the information on the plans to build a new show lounge were indeed part of the application viewed by Council last Thursday, and Opinion 250 had printed that information on Wednesday June 27th in the preview story http//www.opinion250.com/blog/view/6339/1/treasure+cove+wants+175+more+slots?id=143&st=60
-Elaine Macdonald

Looking back at it now, it does indeed say "and in future, a new show lounge would be constructed"

http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/6339/1/treasure+cove+wants+175+more+slots

We will also have a new school built as soon as KGV is removed ..... a lot of things will be built in the future .... such as housing on 7th and victoria, and a few other places downtown.

The problem is, we can only get qualified workers for building gaming facilities, not show lounges or housing ...

;-)

Hopefully the show lounge expansion goes through...i do promoting on the side here in town and there are not a lot of venues to bring events to PG (unless you are going really big with the CN Centre). Apart from that its a tough go.

A 350 seat venue would allow people such as myself to get more involved with bringing events and acts to PG.

More slot machines- not very good.
A bigger show lounge- possibly very good.

Only if its built. Prince George has gone down hill in terms of venues and live music in particular in the last 15 years. I am a local musician and performer who was on a six to eight week rotation in the different places during the early 90's. Now your lucky to play once a month. In the 90's all the pubs had a band on the weekends and the were lots of dances. That all changed with DJ's and karaoke which was cheaper but of course only one person to pay as opposed to 4 or 5. Live music is always better especially if the band interacts and is lively. Bands are considered a liability because you have to pay them but they dont involve life wrecking slot machines and you dont get addicted to them. Its a matter of choice

Where did he get the money, us taxpayers. We paid for the parking under his gaming centre.

Where did he get the money?

He has a captive audience for gaming.

He has a license to put it on legally.

He gets to take the money it costs him to operate out as the first cut.

He gets to take out his profit.

He pays the government the rest.

They keep part of it and redistribute some back to the community through "charities".

The key is, he has a monopoly. There are no competitors unlike those with liquor licenses.

I do not know when that little fact will become important. It seems that as long as the government gets their cut, they are happy dealing with as few operators as possible.

Remember that there was one individual who tried to get into the industry and failed miserably.

Jigga: RE: A 350 seat venue - The playhouse is a perfect small house at 300 seats.

Don't blame Major, he is just another greedy capitalist that our society creates. If you want to blame the real instigators of collecting this blood money, you need to look at who allows this stuff to go on;our elected government. Until there is proof that Mr. Major has done something wrong, it remains completely legal to fleece those who are the most vulnerable to gambling. Just like a criminal layer who justifies representing horrible criminals, Major can give the same response, "If I did not do this surely someone else would".

How about John Major for mayor? Sounds interesting to me.

Does mister Major twist your arm or threaten your family to get you into his establishments??? no i didnt think so.

Seems to me it would be cheaper for BC Looto to just hire John. All the stuff John is wheelin' and dealin' on is being paid for by gambling anyway looks like. It is odd that BC Looto squeezes the last cent out of the charities program and John still gets millions. Seems a waste of money, just put John on the payroll and keep all the extra cash.

bohemian...

good call on the Playhouse venue...works really well for some shows and not so well for others (depending on what you want to do). The show lounge at the casino will probably be a standing room venue that could work for smaller concerts etc and is also licensed.

but now you have the wheels turning in my head on how to best utilize the playhouse.

What is the matter with the bingo halls and casinos? The casino brings in money to the local economy and provides employment.The hotel is almost always packed.It seems to be the first hotel asked for when people wish to visit here.Nobody forces folks to go and gamble and they can always self exclude themselves from the casino. Lets bring on more development and bring this town out of the stone age. It would be nice to dump the image of a dirty, brawling hicktown that has been so carefully cultivated over the years.

Dont make too many plans for the Playhouse as I suspect that the City will tear it down in the next few years. This property is going to become very valuable as that area continues to grow. I suspect that the whole idea of IPG and Gerry Offet starting to discuss a performing Arts Centre, is to make way for the demolition of the Playhouse. (Just a hunch)

Prince George got the reputation of being a dirty, brawling, hicktown, because that is what it was, and I dont notice to many changes to this point. More liquor stores, corner pubs, gambling establishments, etc; etc; Lots of fighting, break and enters, car thefts, etc; etc; We used to consume more liquor per capita than any other area of Canada, however that dubious distinction is now held I beleive by Whitehorse.

BC Casinos are run by private-sector companies on direct contract to BCLC which sets service levels, owns all of the gambling equipment, and has staff on site to take in all of the gambling revenues.

BCLC pays the service providers a fixed percentage of the take. On slot machines, for example, that's 28 percent of the "net win" which is about 8 percent of the total money that goes into slot machines. Some 92 cents of every dollare wagered is returned as winnings.

So you can see that John Major is a contracter only. The real owners of the Casino's are the Government.