A casino on Front St. in the heart of downtown Toronto is the latest proposal spawned by the Ontario government’s bid to boost gambling profits.

Oxford Properties Group is incorporating a possible casino-entertainment complex into discussions of a major redevelopment of its part of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and surrounding properties, the Star has learned.

Two independent sources confirmed the talks, but portrayed Oxford, owned by pension giant OMERS, as joining in the casino discussions with less zeal than others such as MGM Resorts and Caesar’s Entertainment.

“The feeling at Oxford is, this potential plum is out there and we can’t just ignore it,” said a source who has been part of discussions on the redevelopment.

The plan, they said, includes retail, office space, condominiums and — pending agreement from city council to host a casino, and an Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. procurement process to select a builder and operator — gambling on one floor that could jut out over adjacent rail lands.

Since late June, the Star has asked four Oxford executives to confirm or deny that discussions are taking place about a casino. All have refused.

“We have no comment on that right now,” Blake Hutcheson, Oxford president and chief executive, said Thursday.

Oxford’s purchase last year of part of the convention centre gives the company control of “nearly a mile” of Front St., Hutcheson told Property Biz Canada in March. “We are very optimistic that, over time, that we can make this whole site spectacular, and it can involve more retail, it can involve more residential density,” he was quoted as saying.

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced in May that the province hopes to boost sagging gambling revenues with new privately run facilities in 29 “gaming zones,” including the GTA.

Both Duncan and OLG chair Paul Godfrey aggressively touted the potential benefits of a landmark casino-entertainment complex on Toronto’s waterfront, but say nothing will be built without city council approving the idea.

The sources could not say if Oxford Properties was among the companies that submitted a “Request for Information” to OLG by July 4. The province wants to see potential casino proposals, builders and operators. Oxford could wait and, if a Toronto casino looks likely, offer to partner with one of the gambling giants.

City-owned Exhibition Place is a leading potential location — MGM Resorts is proposing a multi-billion-dollar entertainment complex there — along with Woodbine racetrack, the Port Lands and Downsview Park.

Councillor Adam Vaughan, a fierce critic of casinos, savaged the idea of putting one in the convention centre in his ward.

“Putting a casino this close to the cultural, high-tech and financial centre of the city would be an absolutely stupid proposal, a stupid idea, and would damage the sectors that are the strongest parts of Toronto’s economy.

“I wholeheartedly hope that everyone comes to their senses and rejects a casino outright at council in the fall.”

David Mirvish, the impresario whose Toronto theatres include two on King St., a block north of Front St., also condemned the casino talk in an email to the Star.

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“Large casino complexes come with their own subsidized theatre and vacuum up all the entertainment dollars,” he wrote. “They build 1,600-room hotels and cripple the local hotels. They send all their profits to foreign shareholders.

“I do not believe that it will bring new business to the city, but will live off the 12 per cent of the local population who will be their prey.”