Posted Nov 17, 2014, 1:51 AM
|
See ya down under, mates
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,167
|
|
Back into the "maybe not happening" stage
Quote:
Viability of Paragon’s Vancouver casino-resort development in question
The government regulator in charge of monitoring gaming in B.C. is reviewing whether the company behind the $535-million Edgewater Casino resort development in downtown Vancouver continues to meet the conditions of its registration, The Province has learned.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch’s (GPEB) “examination” of Edgewater Casino ULC’s designation as a gaming services provider is part of the same review announced in July into the duties of Michael Graydon, the former head of the B.C. Lottery Corporation, who is now president of PV Hospitality, which is an affiliate of Paragon Gaming, the Las Vegas-based company that bought the Edgewater Casino in 2006 through one of its divisions, Paragon BC, ULC. That company later joined with a numbered company to form Edgewater Casino ULC, according to corporate records.
GPEB’s review of Graydon was announced in the wake of a separate provincial government investigation which concluded Graydon had been in conflict of interest when he began negotiating with Paragon Gaming in December 2013 for a new job while he was still head of the B.C. Lottery Corporation.
In addition to determining whether Edgewater Casino ULC continues to meet the conditions of its registration, the GPEB review, which is being conducted by the agency’s Corporate Registration Division, will attempt to determine whether Graydon is required to be registered as a gaming worker.
David Eby, the Opposition critic for gaming, said news of the expanded review raises serious questions about the entire project.
Eby first learned of the review’s extended scope earlier this month after receiving a letter from the GPEB in response to questions he had sent concerning Graydon’s role at PV Hospitality.
A copy of the response letter was provided to The Province and was used as the basis for further queries to the Ministry of Finance.
“This is clearly an expansion of what we had asked for — our original letter was to ask the regulator to review Mr. Graydon’s conduct in violation of provincial conflict of interest policy,” Eby said. “And now in this letter, the regulator says they are not just investigating Mr. Graydon, but they are also investigating the gaming service provider, who we understand to be Paragon.
“Certainly, if Paragon is under investigation, that is a major issue for this entire development.”
Eby questioned whether the review includes a look at the financial problems of Alberta’s Eagle River Casino, a joint-project between the Alexis First Nation and Paragon Gaming.
In January, the casino, saddled by tens of millions of dollars in debt, went into bankruptcy proceedings. Court records show that the casino was placed into the receivership of Alvarez and Marsal.
“The casino was losing over a million dollars a day at the conclusion,” said Eby. “So when you have a casino operator that is bankrupt, then that raises questions about their solvency generally, and their ability to manage very sensitive business in the province. So it would be perfectly reasonable and appropriate to me that GBEP would be investigating Paragon in light of this bankruptcy.”
|
More: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Viab...729/story.html
|