Sikh Community Influenced Surrey Casino Decision
Surrey Councillor, Barinda Rasode, told the Vancouver Sun this week that religious factions played a big role in getting the proposal to construct a mega-casino in Surrey, Canada defeated.
In a vote held on January 19th, the project was rejected 5-4.
Rasode said that the Sikh community had joined other faiths, including the Jewish and Muslim communities, in signing petitions and putting pressure on councillors to reject the idea.
Referring to an anti-casino petition put out by the two largest temples in Surrey, the Guru Nanak Gurdwara and the Dasmesh Darbar Gurdwara, Rasode said that the 4,000 signatures "absolutely played a role."
Rajinder Singh Dhaliwal, president of one of the temples, which comprises over 22,000 members, urged his congregation at the beginning of January to sign the petition.
"We had many hundreds who signed the petition that day," said Dhaliwal. "We left it up to each person to choose whether to sign or not to sign."
Seven Hour Casino Hearing
Before the vote was held on the Surrey Casino, several public meetings were held, with hundreds of speakers taking the stands to convince the public for and against the idea of a mega-casino.
Those in support said that it would create jobs and bring entertainment to the city center, while those against said that it could would result in higher crime levels and heavier traffic.
On January 19th, after a seven hour hearing, a 2 am vote resulted in the dramatically close decision against the casino, with the Sikh community Surrey casino opposition influence felt.
The 60,000 square foot facility, was meant to be built on 12th Avenue and 168th Street, and was proposed by Gateway Casinos and Entertainment Ltd. The idea was that Gateway would move the temporary gambling license it holds at the Newton Bingo Country casino and use it to run a mega casino at the new location.
Catering to Players
Other operators who run casinos in the area believe that customer service is an important part of a successful gambling operation and efforts might have been made to market the product to those groups which opposed the idea in the first place.
According to the VP of Media and Entertainment at Great Canadian Gambling, operators of River Rock Casino in Richmond: "If a high roller is from mainland China and they're coming for the first time, we'd make sure that we can offer tea. And the proper tea. It is about family and respect. We would make sure that one of our senior executives would be there to meet them and treat them as if they were coming into their own home."
