The president and CEO of Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority, Zane Hansen was in the Battlefords to tell Rotary members about the state of the organization.
But it was the future of one portion of that organization - the Gold Eagle Casino - that was top of the minds of Rotarians during Hansen's address Monday at noon at the Tropical Inn.
Hansen confirmed during the question and answer session that SIGA was considering replacing the current Gold Eagle facility with a new casino and those discussions would take place over the next fiscal year.
SIGA operates several casinos across the province. In addition to Gold Eagle Casino, SIGA operates five other casinos throughout the province, and is a heavy employer of First Nations and Métis employees.
Talk of replacing the existing casino facility in North Battleford has been the subject of ongoing banter in the community over the last few years.
Both Battlefords Tribal Council and Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs had put forward proposals to replace the casino in 2008, to be located near where the current facility is situated.
SIGA squelched talk of a new facility at the time. During an interview with the Regional Optimist in 2008, Hansen said SIGA was concentrating on expansion elsewhere including building the new Living Sky Casino in Swift Current as well as upgrading Painted Hand Casino in Yorkton.
"What we are doing right now is focusing our efforts to complete those and launch them successfully and then we can look at further reinvestment in other markets after that," Hansen said in 2008.
It appears, though, the future of Gold Eagle Casino is back on SIGA's radar. Hansen confirmed North Battleford was now at the top of their priority list as "the next market to develop."
He told reporters SIGA was more likely to consider building a new facility in North Battleford as opposed to renovating the existing one.
"The existing facility has really served us very well," Hansen told reporters following his address. "But it's also about three or four building pieced together.
"The logical next step for us to do is look at a new facility downstream."
Hansen said there was nothing formal for him to announce that day, but told reporters SIGA expects to have discussions with their partners over the next fiscal year, which would end in March next year.
Hansen's comments on Gold Eagle Casino came in the wake of a hot-button question raised during Rotary's question and answer session.
The question, posed by email from Rotary member Harvey Walker who was not in attendance, was on the health impacts of second-hand smoke. He asked why SIGA continues to allow smoking in its casinos.
Hansen said the smoking issue is a focus area for SIGA, who said all three of the new casinos built have targeted and separately-ventilated smoking areas.
At the Gold Eagle Casino, SIGA had put in an HVAC unit to the tune of $250,000 a couple of years ago. They also tried to zone off the floor that way and Hansen said they would also look at viable short-term solutions at the casino.
Ultimately, though, Hansen said the best fix to the smoking and ventilation issues at Gold Eagle Casino "would be a new facility and the features you would build into that."
