New Bingo Hall Blocks From Woodstock Raceway?

Published: September 6, 2012 02:14 pm EDT

A City Council meeting tonight (Thursday, September 6) at 7:00 p.m., which is open to the public, could pave the way for a new bingo facility to be located in Woodstock, Ont., less than two kilometres from Woodstock Raceway. Under the OLG's modernization strategy that could mean the eventual approval of 'slot-like' machines in walking distance from the current track.

On the heels of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s decision to end the slots-at-racetracks partnership and give bingo operators 47 per cent of new electronic gaming machine revenues, there is a renewed explosion of interest in bingo in Ontario.

At a City Council meeting tonight in Woodstock, Robert Dowd of Chatham will make his pitch to open a bingo facility in that city. Dowd, who previously closed the last bingo facility in Woodstock in 2007, has secured a lease at the old Home Hardware location in the Springbank Plaza. His proposed location is only 1.6 kilometres from the racing facility which has been a regular fixture in Woodstock since 1951.

While Dowd’s multiple-page submission to the City of Woodstock mentions that potential revenues to the municipality would be at minimum $35,000, he makes no indication of electronic slot-like machines. However, under the OLG’s modernization plans, Dowd’s facility may, in the future, be eligible for slot-like gaming machines. If that is the case, it is unclear how much that will cost the municipality or negatively impact the possibility of other gaming facilities being located at Woodstock Raceway. For more information, click here.

Anybody wishing to speak at tonight’s Council meeting must contact the City’s clerk, Louise Gartshore ([email protected]; 519-539-2382, Ext. 2500). It is unclear whether anybody has spoken out, to this point, against the bingo plan. Contact info for Woodstock's city councillors is available at the following link: Woodstock City Council.

UPDATE: On Thursday, Woodstock City Council approved Dowd's motion.

On Tuesday, Dowd appeared before Council in Norfolk County, where he received the go ahead on opening 'Chances,' a new bingo facility in Simcoe, Ont. Simcoe hasn’t had a full-time facility since 2002, when Bingorama closed. Chances will operate from the old Bingorama facility.

Dowd currently operates two bingo halls in Chatham and is also in talks to bring a bingo facility to Tillsonburg.

For more information on the OLG's modernization strategy relating to bingo, utilize the links which appear below.

The following is a promotional video for one company that sells the electronic Break Open (Pull Tab) machines:

The following video is a demonstration of an instant Bingo machine. It should be noted that the Bingo portion of the machine is located in the top right corner of the machine. The rest of the machine is clearly designed to resemble a slot machine.

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