Please sign our petition. In light of the recent Kendall Report on the rise in severe gambling addiction, we ask the City of Vancouver to refer the Edgewater Casino’s permit application back from the Development Permit Board (Dec. 16 meeting) to City Council for further review and a discussion about harm reduction. For more information, click “Read the petition.”
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On December 17, 2013, the City of Vancouver’s Development Permit Board (DPB) will review a development permit application for a new Edgewater Casino at BC Place.
On October, 17, the BC government’s Kendall Report, conducted by BC’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Perry Kendall, demonstrated that gambling addiction is very widespread and that it has doubled over the past five years.
In light of the Kendall report, Vancouver Not Vegas and its supporters make the following requests of the City of Vancouver and its DPB:
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Vancouver Not Vegas asks the City of Vancouver’s Development Permit Board return the Edgewater Casino proposal to City Council for further review.
In October, BC Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall issued a report warning that governments must do more to curb severe gambling addiction in BC.
In 2011 Vancouver City Council unanimously rejected the expansion of gambling licenses for Edgewater Casino, and approved the relocation of the casino to BC Place.
On December 17, the proposed Edgewater Casino goes to the Development Permit Board for approval. If it passes there, construction can commence before Christmas.
No further public hearings will be held.
In light of the Kendall recommendations and Vancouver’s Healthy City Strategy, Vancouver Not Vegas calls for the Edgewater application be returned to City Council for comprehensive public review and implementation of a harm reduction strategy for the casino.
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Gambling was expanded throughout BC with the understanding and agreement that it would substantially fund BC’s crucial charities and non-profits. This has not come to pass, and charities are suffering. Minister Rich Coleman cuts them off from gaming revenues at will—and, so far, with impunity. But perhaps not for much longer. Why should we have a huge, crime-attracting casino in our city’s downtown if it’s not even going to fund the charities that keep our communities healthy?
Remember to sign the BCACG’s petition asking the City of Vancouver not to consider the BC provincial government’s application to expand gaming in the municipality until the province comes to the table to discuss its radical cuts of gaming-derived funding to charities and non-profits throughout BC.
The BCACG or British Columbia Association of Charitable Gaming is a non-profit organization that represents the charities who receive funding out of BC’s gaming revenues. Charities currently receive only about 10% of those revenues; BC legislation states that fraction must be 33%. Read the BCACG’s open letter to Minister Rich Coleman. Please send the petition link around!
Posted in Edgewater Casino
Tagged BC provincial government, BCACG, City of Vancouver, petition