Century Downs Racetrack and Casino opens
It’s been a long time in the making with a few bumps along the road, but the Century Downs Racetrack and Casino project near CrossIron Mills opened its doors to the public on Wednesday.
Paul Ryneveld, the complex’s general manager, said the area’s infrastructure, including the road system to get to the complex, is a huge bonus for the new gaming and entertainment facility.
“It’s a very convenient location,” he said. “The fact that the mall has been open since 2009 has really given this place a sense of location. People know where CrossIron Mills is.”
The Balzac- area project, on 21 hectares, includes a casino with 550 slot machines and electronic table games, as well as a racetrack. Just east of CrossIron Mills, it was first proposed to open in 2007 but met with many delays over the years due to financial uncertainty.
The first harness races are scheduled for April 25 — the first horse races in the Calgary region in seven years. Thoroughbred racing will take place in 2016.
“We are a racing entertainment centre licence and we’re a Class A racetrack so we have to run 100 days of racing in a calendar year,” said Ryneveld.
Recently, it was announced that Colorado- based Century Casinos Inc. had raised its majority stake in United Horsemen of Alberta, the company which developed the project.
The original loan agreements with UHA to complete the project included a mechanism for Century to convert the debt to equity in UHA.
An initial $ 13- million loan gave Century a 60 per cent ownership stake in UHA. But when it was discovered the project was going to cost $ 24 million, the additional money that was borrowed allowed Century to take another 15 per cent stake, raising its ownership to 75 per cent.
Gerry Hudon, of Edmonton, who is an owner and driver of horses, said the return to the Calgary area is a bonus for the horse racing industry.
“We’ve been all over the place. We’ve been in Grande Prairie, Lacombe, Edmonton. Nothing settled,” said Hudon. “Now we’re settled into a spot that we can now become like it used to be when we were in Calgary at Stampede Park. I raced Stampede Park for years. Edmonton and Calgary all the time. It was such a great circuit and it’s nice to have that back — to have two A tracks back in play makes a big difference with two slot revenues.”
The UHA was formed in 2003. Originally it had hoped to open the racetrack by 2007.
“It’s been a long pregnancy,” quipped Max Gibb, vice- chair of the UHA and Century Downs. “And it’s surely been challenging. It’s followed the ups and downs of our province of doing development. But at the end of the day we’re going to have horses running around there and it will be a rejuvenation of breeding and training and transporting and all the good things about horse racing.”
He said the combination of a racetrack and casino in one location is a good fit.
“It’s the way to go really,” said Gibb. “It’s the new way in America and around the world actually. Century is a great partner with their international involvement. The other part we’re excited about is with their connections. We’re in negotiations already to simulcast our racetrack and running around North America and probably internationally. It will be a big perspective.”
Bleacher seating will be 300 for the racetrack. Initially there will be one barn with the capacity for 100 horses. The second barn is expected in July with capacity for 200 horses and a third barn, with another 200 horses, will be ready next year.
The casino is 33,000 square feet in size. Pending Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission approval, the number of slot machines could grow to 650 at a later date. A restaurant and bar has seating for 150 people while the off- track betting area has 100 seats.
There are 700 parking stalls and a hotel is to be developed on the site at a later date.
Andreas Terler, vice- president of operations for Century Casinos and chairman of the board of the UHA, said the current facility is designed to allow for possible future expansion.
He said the hotel “may be developed in the not- so- far future” and would be positioned about 50 metres to the south of the casino building and directly next to the racetrack.
“It’s very exciting for our horse racing fans. We’ve been out of the Calgary market for a long time,” said Shirley McClellan, chief executive of Horse Racing Alberta.
“People in this area have missed it and they’ve looked forward with great anticipation to the casino opening today and on April 25 we’ll have our first parimutuel racing on this new track.
“It’s been a long, long time for this track to come to fruition but it’s here today and it’s important to us because a lot of our owners are from southern Alberta. They want to see their horses race ... The horse is so much a part of our Western heritage. We’ve had racing, for example, at Millarville for over 100 years.”
Bill Robinson, president and chief executive of the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, said the opening of the casino on Wednesday is a great day for horse racing in Alberta and for a very strong and vibrant casino program throughout the province.
“We can never forget that this is funds that build things like playgrounds for kids and schools. This is things that build hospitals, help build roads. So these programs are really the cornerstone quite frankly to some of our charities and certainly most of our communities right across the province,” said Robinson.
He said there were some bumps along the road in getting the racetrack/ casino centre to this day.
“This is a world- class facility,” added Robinson, saying it will give horse racing in Alberta “a real shot in the arm.”