Construction of a new $36-million casino in Chatham is ahead of schedule.
Gateway Casinos and Entertainment is building the facility on the site of the former Wheels Inn at Richmond St and Keil Dr. N.
The new casino will replace the current Slots at Dresden. The 100 employees will also move over to the new site while an additional 200 jobs will also be created.
Gateway CEO, Tony Santo says working with local politicians has been great.
"It's not often that everything the city says, they do and it just works out perfect," he says. "It's been a great relationship with teamwork and really getting this project going even from the infancy stage, all the way up until now."
Gateway CEO Tony Santo, Februrary 5, 2019 (Photo by AM800's Peter Langille)
Once it's open, Santo says they are hoping to attract locals.
"We want to be part of the community," he says. "You may have already seen that we participate in the community and donate through Gateway Gives and that's really the impetus and how we plan our facilities. Then we will branch out a little further then maybe the 20 or 30km radius but that's how we look at our facilities."
The new casino will be branded as a "Cascades" facility and will be identical to Gateway's casinos in at least two B.C. communities.
The new casino will feature over 300 slot machines and 12 table games.
It's expected to open in September 2019.
— With files from AM800's Peter Langille