Viva Bellevegas!

It’s great to see the moniker come to reality. No kidding, my generation has been using the handle for years, to the point where a few of us, years back, even had a t-shirt company created until we discovered ‘Bellevegas, Illinois’.

The $41 million facility is huge for Belleville, Bell Blvd, and the Bay of Quinte Region. More than 300 jobs, more than $3 million yearly for the City of Belleville, a huge development charge to get into the gate, yearly municipal taxes…

It’s great news. Welcome Great Canadian Gaming to the Bay of Quinte region.

But let’s get real: this casino is a means, not an end.

What the casino really does is a whole bunch of things. It’s not a saviour to the tourism industry. It will not make most of Belleville millionaires, nor will it revive and expand the economy on its own.

The casino is a means, and a big means, to what quite a few of us as citizens of this region want and need to see as growth to a region with the potential to be great.

The casino will not single handedly lift tourism, this much has been proven in Gananoque over the years. There simply will not be thousands of tourists who convene to Belleville because we will have a casino here, and room nights will be limited. It will, however, act as an incredible compliment to the tourist attractions we have here in Bay of Quinte: golf, culinary, fishing, sports tourism, Prince Edward County.

Golf groups will be more attracted to the Quinte region with a casino to frequent in the evening hours. Visiting Prince Edward County? You more than likely will be already staying in Belleville, and a casino will give added boost in entertainment. And the casino will have a restaurant and nightlife (an indoor/outdoor entertainment venue), sure to be a great additive to sports tourism, our corporate clientele, and the local population. Given this year’s high US dollar, if it were to lead into 2017, would allow the region to leverage the casino with its beaches, breweries, and culinary tourism, as a top destination combined.

Shorelines will be a major Belleville attraction that Belleville desperately needed within a greater region. With council support of tourism growth, and the casino opening in 2017, it will add to a greater offering at a time when we really needed it.

The casino will be a means for the economy. It has proven the Quinte region is a stand-alone entity, big enough to support a casino. We as a region are hoping others are listening. If a casino can be supported here, surely we can attract more population, and businesses that start to recognize the region as a viable thriving entity. While 300 plus jobs is nothing to sneeze at, thousands of new jobs will be needed in coming years and growth in Quinte begets growth. Great news should be celebrated.

There is no question there will be spin-off development from the casino. Surely in the coming years Belleville will be hedging that Bell Boulevard will see the expansion it has been waiting for. Restaurants, perhaps a new arena some day (with a new hockey team), a convention centre, and new retail are all closer to reach and are all great if the city can make them work.

For the local population, the casino will mean jobs and good jobs with benefits. More importantly, the City of Belleville will receive incredible returns from the casino helping local taxpayers face the burden of increasingly insurmountable infrastructure deficits.

Working with the casino as a means for growth – growth of Belleville within the greater region, will mean this casino bet will pay back in spades, for the city, the region, and for Great Canadian Gaming.