Casino keeps CNE in the game
Brodie Fenlon
From Monday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Monday, Aug. 10, 2009 04:27AM EDT
Without gambling proceeds from the Canadian National Exhibition casino that quietly opened a week ago today, the fair as Toronto knows it would be mired in red ink, forcing taxpayers to cover the shortfall.
Financial figures obtained by The Globe and Mail show “The Ex” would have posted a $1.4-million loss last year, a $1.5-million deficit in 2007 and more than twice as much in 2006 had it not been for the profits of poker, blackjack, roulette and other games of chance, which account for more than a quarter of all fair revenues. Instead
The City of Toronto is on the hook for any profits or losses the 18-day fair incurs under a long-standing agreement between the board of governors for Exhibition Place and the non-profit Canadian National Exhibition Association.
“The casino is a significant contributor to our annual operating revenues,” said David Bednar, the fair's general manager.
“By all means, we would have a CNE without a casino, if it came to it, but we just wouldn't have as good a CNE,” he said.
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