91原创

The jackpot of earnings 91原创 City receives from Cascades Casino is still in the millions of dollars, but it isn鈥檛 the windfall it used to be,  and council wants to know why.

The City projected its revenue from the casino for 2014 would be $5.75 million, and it actually will be $5.5 million, down $213,000 from what it expected.

When the casino first opened in 91原创 City in 2005, it was sharing revenues with the City of around $7 million per year. All casinos must share 10 per cent of the revenues with the host municipality.

According to the City鈥檚 director of corporate services Darren Leite, 91原创 City has received $213,000 less than it budgeted for this year.

The trend appears to be that casino revenues are in decline, whether it be from the saturation of casinos, online gaming or the downturn in the economy.

鈥淭he City is really dependent on the casino鈥檚 successes,鈥� said Councillor Dave Hall at the last meeting.

He then asked if a casino representative could come to council to explain the decline, and talk about the future.

鈥淭hen we could get a sense on revenue trends,鈥� said Hall.

Another reason casino revenues are down is BC Lottery Corporation took more money than usual in the first quarter of 2014, after the Crown corporation did some major restructuring. It meant there was lofty severance to be paid out.

鈥淭hey had extraordinary higher expenditures that quarter, which meant our share was less,鈥� said Leite.

Casino revenues allowed the City to become debt-free, something very few municipalities can do.

As of February, the City had collected $53.6 million in casino revenues. Most of the funds have been used to pay down debt and improve infrastructure.