Great Canada Gaming Releases 2009 Report
One of Canada's leading gambling groups, Great Canada Gaming Corp, released its full year financial report for 2009 which reflected the difficult period that the industry has gone through due to the recession.
Disappointing revenue numbers were reported by the group, despite its best efforts to circumvent the global recession and the drop in the value of the Canadian dollar.
The group reported that it had taken in $96.3 million in revenues in Q4 2009 - a $400K drop from the fourth quarter of 2008.
Great Canada Gaming operates 10 casinos, a thoroughbred racetrack where slot machines are offered, and three standardbred racetracks, also offering slot machines and table games.
According to the report, the Boulevard Casino in British Columbia and the Nova Scotia casinos contributed to much of the decline in the group's revenues.
The River Rock casino saw its revenues increase by $2.6 million, mainly due to the massive $34 million spent renovating the establishment by making it more accessible to the public and renovating its look.
"These upgrades were especially important at River Rock and Boulevard, our largest properties where many machines had become relatively dated," said the President of the group, Rod Baker.
A statement by the group's chairman and CEO, Ross J. McLeod said: "2009 was, as expected, a difficult year. The revenue decline we witnessed over the past 12 months presented a new challenge for our company. In response, we adopted a proactive strategy of both cost and capital management."
Analysts are confident that the despite the drop in revenues, Great Canada Gaming is strong enough to pull through. "I think they are making the right decisions in terms of conservative capital deployment and I think that leaves them well positioned for any sort of recovery," said one analyst.
