Canadian Casino Groups Suspend Oregon Project
Two publicly listed Canadian casino groups, Clairvest Group Inc. and Great Canadian Gaming Corporation have suspended their campaign for the construction of Oregon's first privately owned casino.
The group, through their majority owned PDX Entertainment Group, were seeking to construct a state-of-the-art casino, hotel and water park in Wood Village, Oregon, to be called The Grange.
For the casino to become a reality, Oregon's constitution would have needed to be amended, and voters would have had to be given the right to choose via Measures 82 and 83 in the upcoming elections on their ballots.
But the Canadian casino groups have now reached the conclusion that although they have spent millions of dollars trying to persuade voters to back the proposal, there is simply not enough support for the casino and are thus suspending their campaign.
A statement issued by Great Canadian Gambling Corporation and Clairvest Group read: "In the last few weeks it appears to the campaign team that not enough Oregon voters are ready to add a private casino to the state's gaming options."
The groups said that should the measures pass on election day, they remained committed to the project and would continue their involvement.
Opposition Continues Campaign Against Casino
Despite the Canadian groups dropping their $5 million campaign, opponents to the Oregon casino idea said that they would continue pushing voters to turn down the idea on their ballot papers.
Their main concern is that gambling in Oregon would shift from a controlled, government-oriented industry to a private profit model with less abilities to regulate such a casino.
Speaking for the opponents, Cynara Lilly said: "They [the Canadian casino groups] obviously ran a really serious campaign, albeit misleading, so we think it's important that we continue educating voters about these measures."
A similar attempt last year to change the constitution attracted only 32% support.
Clairvest has Stakes in Many Canadian Casinos
Clairvest Inc, a private equity firm, has stakes in several casinos in the United States, Canada and Chile. Great Canadian Gaming owns twelve casinos and racetracks in Canada, as well as several card rooms in Washington, US.
The two groups have spent over $5 million in the past two months in order to promote the idea, while another $1.1 million was spent trying to collect enough signatures to get the measures included in the November ballot.
At present, there are nine casinos in Oregon, all operated by Native Americans tribes on sovereign territory. Oregon's constitution essentially bans gambling.
