Locating The Casino

by Darrin DeRoches February 7 - 13, 2013

Over the past few weeks, the debate over the casino has heated up. It seems the location of the property is the biggest problem. Downtown Hamilton or keep it at Flamborough racetrack? When it comes to the viability of a casino the location does not make or break it. The old saying “if you build it – they will come” is so true when dealing with the location of any casino. A casino has all the money and marketing power to convince the average person to drive, fly, bus or walk to its doors and spend their “entertainment dollar”. So, since the location should not matter to their bottom line, they should go ahead and put it out in Flamborough where it will be a destination oasis out in the farmers’ fields.     The casino will work wherever they put it but the missed opportunity of not placing it downtown is the real issue. It will change the face of a city and give those looking to invest in our city that we welcome all investments. The hotels, jobs, entertainment, restaurants and a slew of spinoffs that would come from a casino downtown would help our city grow into the future. The casino is not the be all and end all of our city and it does not represent the city’s future at all but it does help us move forward. As a city we have to welcome all types of investments to our bottom line. The casino will attract other businesses to the core. The casino will attract conventions to our city. Good or bad, a casino in the downtown will attract more investment. If the opponents of having a downtown casino want our city to stay the same then vote no for a casino we will be fine without one.     Our downtown has turned the corner as the ad in the Spectator points out and I am the first to applaud the changes independent and corporate people are doing to help “grow” our city. From food trucks, to business parks to Supercrawl – these great successes are the reason we have turned the corner. A corner we have been waiting to turn for over 20 years. Looking forward, a casino will be a piece of the puzzle to change our downtown just as important as the independent store owner opening a new spot in our downtown. Both belong downtown. Both can co–exist downtown. Both will help Hamilton catch up for the lost years of doing the same – nothing! Location does matter and a casino downtown is just as important as a market downtown, a festival downtown, a condo downtown, a hotel downtown, McMaster downtown, hospital downtown, theatre downtown, restaurants downtown. These are all great investments located in our downtown which help bring people to our downtown. V     Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at mail@uniquerealty.ca.