New information released after successful CBC News appeal to open-records watchdog
St. John's Racing and Entertainment approached the province three years ago with a proposal to enter into a public-private partnership for a $32-million casino at the harness racing track in Goulds.
CBC News has obtained previously-secret details of the proposal after filing a successful complaint with Newfoundland and Labrador's information and privacy commissioner.
According to an April 2012 government briefing note, St. John's Racing and Entertainment (SJRE) would have operated the Goulds casino, while responsibility for all aspects of gaming public policy would have remained vested with the province.
The government would have been on the hook for buying 450 slot machines and 10 gaming tables, plus other equipment, at a cost of $7 million.
Revenue from table games would have been shared 60-40 and the slots 55-45, both in favour of the operator.
According to the briefing note, gross revenues for the planned casino were expected to come in at $61 million per year. The province would have received about $27 million of that.
SJRE estimated the government would recoup its initial investment with five months of operations.
The briefing paper notes this was SJRE's second request for the province to sanction the operation of a casino. The other dated to 2007.
Neither proposal was ever approved by the government. Newfoundland and Labrador remains the only province in Canada without a casino.
The Ontario-based owners of St. John's Racing and Entertainment did not respond to repeated CBC News inquiries over the past week about the casino proposal or whether they would seek to revisit it in the future.
Successful appeal to information commissioner
Much of the information was blacked out in documents originally released by the Department of Finance.
CBC appealed those redactions to the information and privacy commissioner under a revamped procedure brought in by laws repealing the impact of Bill 29.
The commissioner ruled the Department of Finance incorrectly applied the law when it blacked out large portions of those briefing materials.
The province could have gone to court to attempt to halt the release of the information, but did not do so.
By Rob Antle
