The Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation (MSIFN) have been outspoken about their concerns about Great Blue Heron Casino & Hotel in Port Perry, in Ontario’s ‘cottage country’ a short drive from Toronto. Last week’s news about a new entertainment facility opening there hasn’t changed their opinion.
MSIFN owns Great Blue Heron Casino, which they opened in 1997, but it’s operated by Great Canadian Entertainment, a commercial enterprise that also the Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto, expanded last year into Canada’s largest.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation took over management of Great Blue Heron Casino (GBH) from the First Nation in 2016. Ontario Gaming GTA LP, a partnership between Great Canadian Gaming Corporation (now Great Canadian Entertainment) and Brookfield Business Partners LP, took over operations and management rights of Great Blue Heron, as well as the OLG slots in Ajax and Woodbine, after that.
MSIFN chief Kelly LaRocca says they’ve seen what has been happening around the casino scene in the Greater Toronto Area – the opening of new casinos and upgrades of others, compounded by a billion-dollar, regulated, igaming market coming up on its two-year anniversary – as a steady erosion of their market share.
“I suspect we’re an afterthought,” she has told CDC Gaming previously.
They see the opening of a regulated igaming market in Ontario as further disregard and disrespect for their community by the Ontario government and the crown corporation (OLG). They also observe a lack of attention paid to their facility, which Chief LaRocca says lacks the “vibrancy” of the other facilities, especially the $1 billion Toronto casino.
Last week, it was announced that a new live-entertainment and special-events venue is opening at Great Blue Heron. The facility is located near Lake Scugog in Durham Region. The new 12,637-square-foot venue has a total capacity of nearly 800 and will be available for live performances and concerts and corporate gatherings.
“I’m pleased about the opening of an entertainment facility at the GBH; however, it changes little as to my original concerns,” she told CDC Gaming Friday.
LaRocca said she visited the casino on Dec. 29 and said that it continues to lack of vibrancy.
“I noted a remarkably decreased patronage for a Friday night during the holiday season,” she said. “I also noticed visible decreases in active table gaming and gaming positions. Some customers were even remarking to me on the lack of staffing availability and that they see how hard the staff present are working to keep up the pace, even during what was a slower evening. Large parts of the gaming hall were unfilled and unfurnished. It was a deeply troubling experience, to say the least.”
She added she’s “extremely concerned” about the opening of the poker tables at Pickering Casino, also run by Great Canadian Entertainment, which will further negatively impact their community.
“I look forward to learning more about the plans for the entertainment complex,” LaRocca said. “I just hope that they reward the loyalty of current staff and entice new staff to come and work at the GBH to run the entertainment complex, hotel, and casino as effectively as possible.”
MSIFN is taking the OLG and the Ontario government to court to reopen the 2016 agreement and if MSIFN has its way, to make changes to it. LaRocca says they will be looking for compensation to offset the opening of Casino Pickering and the expansion of other casinos within the GTA bundle, arguing that assurances made to MSIFN regarding the gaming positions and casinos within the GTA bundle were not kept.
“Should a reopening of the agreements be contemplated by the parties and through the judicial process, we’re more than willing to entertain such negotiations,” LaRocca said. “Our revenue share is under attack and we wish to make the OLG and the Ford government live up to their promises and obligations.”
According to OLG Q3 gaming revenue payments to municipal partners released Friday (through Dec. 31 2023), MSIFN’s share of gaming revenue at the Great Blue Heron facility was $711,716, down from $804,706 in Q2 and $865,097 in Q1.
“I just hope that our wonderful customers and staff will remain loyal to GBH as their preferred facility,” she said.
Counter arguments from the other side include a new 100-room hotel built and opened at GBH just a few years ago, an expansion of gaming area with table games, slot machines, and sportsbooks added, and now the entertainment facility.
Last spring, OLG commented, “OLG values its long-standing relationship with the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation (MSIFN), and we are always seeking to build on our shared objectives. Though expansion of Great Canadian Entertainment’s gaming operations has been visibly in the works for five years, we are committed to working to enhance communications with MSIFN to improve our long-standing relationship. OLG, along with the Ontario government, are committed to working in good faith with MSIFN to resolve the dispute.”
A spokesperson on Monday today they currently have nothing to add to the statement.
