The Sudbury casino is in danger

The installation of a casino in the Canadian city of Sudbury is facing a legal battle.

Canada.- The Canadian City of Greater Sudbury council has already approved the construction of a new casino operated by Gateway Casinos and Entertainment. However, the licensing process entered into a legal battle as local lawyer Gordon Petch argued that in order to approve the casino, authorities should have made a referendum first.

“If a majority of the electorate respond in the negative, the municipality has no jurisdiction to proceed to consider the casino further,” Petch wrote. “The city did not hold such a referendum and cannot rely on the resolution of May 15, 2012, to obtain its jurisdiction to proceed to consider the casino and grant Planning Act approvals for the subject applications and this tribunal, therefore, has no jurisdiction to approve same.”

“OLG’s stated position in the city of London as to how a municipality is required to comply… required that the city must obtain the views of the public as to whether or not they wish their municipality to be a willing host and that such process must be widespread and must precede and not be connected to any consideration of a specific location for the casino,” he wrote. “Only after that process has been completed can the city then proceed to consider land-use approvals for any individual site and pass the resolution required.”

Whilst Gateway Casinos has already confirmed its intention to invest US$60 million for the gaming complex, the city’s investment in the arena, roads and other infrastructure parts is expected to be US$100 million. “It will benefit generations of residents as a choice destination for large concerts and sporting events,” said Mayor Brian Bigger in a statement.

However, now the future of the construction of the casino is in danger until the legal battle is over, which could take at least several months.