AJAX — This is one of those rare casino stories where there are no losers — only winners.

But in this true story, one of the players was down to their final spin!

It’s not every day a casino finds itself down to a last chip, but the safe bet this spring was that Casino Ajax would close for good.

Sometimes the long shots win and good luck prevails.

It happened Tuesday when jubilant Ontario Environment Minister Rod Phillips, the MPP for Ajax, and a beaming Mayor Steve Parish jointly announced the community’s cards came up aces.

And horse shoes, too.

“In politics, when a politicians keeps his or her promise, it must be acknowledged,” said Parish. “A promise was kept here.”

The politicians the mayor was referring to were Phillips, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli and Premier Doug Ford.

“This was so important to our community,” said Parish, who has been mayor for 23 years and is about to retire on the ultimate high. “It has been responsible for building so much infrastructure here over the years … let alone all the jobs it brought to the table.”

Not just the gaming jobs, but those related to Quarter Horse racing which — like the slots at Casino Ajax — was in danger of becoming extinct, as well. The previous Liberal government, along with the new operator Great Canadian Gaming, had decided to close the slots in favour opening an exciting, new project called Durham Live, just a few kilometres away in Pickering.

A bigger, better hand had been introduced to the game. It did not look good.

Enter the fighting spirit of Parish, teamed with an upstart politician in Phillips — who, as a former CEO of the OLG understood the business — to draw a line in the sand. Their message was simple: No one was going to take away this major Ajax landmark without a serious battle.

Former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne and her team, including then- Ajax MPP Joe Dickson, learned that the hard way. Phillips won the riding easily in June’s provincial election Ford hit the jackpot with a landslide win.

But the premier did something else in this story that the Liberal government had not been prepared to do.

“I will meet with both (Pickering and Ajax) and both will be happy,” he promised on the campaign trail.

He kept his word. A compromise was agreed to and two winners have emerged.

The Ajax Casino will eventually reduce it’s slot machine number to 500 from 800, but will have a contract to keep running until at least 2026. Work on Durham Live will continue with an eye to building a world-class casino that will create 10,000 jobs.

“When I was knocking on the doors during the election campaign, I got a sense that people were looking for a two-site solution,” said Phillips. “In the end, that is what made the most sense for all parties and that is what the premier and Minister Fedeli agreed to.”

In this game, there are three winners because Quarter Horse racing, which packs in crowds, and those it employes also came up aces.