Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs to stay closed for awhile

No reopening date set for slimmed down slots operation

FRASERVILLE — The Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs in Fraserville is going to remain closed for awhile to come, says Ontario Lottery and Gaming – although it was unclear from a written statement released Wednesday exactly how much longer the temporary closure might last.

Kawartha Downs closed for renovations on Oct. 15 – the same day the new Shorelines Casino Peterborough opened.

OLG said at the time the shutdown would last for about two weeks, during which time 30 food and beverage workers were offered the chance to clean, repaint and redecorate the facility.

But when the 14-day timeframe elapsed on Monday, the facility was still closed – and there was no indication when it might re-open.

On Wednesday, OLG spokesman Tony Bitoni sent a statement to media saying it had “extended the transition period” so the details of a recent agreement-in-principle between the Ontario government and Kawartha Downs can be worked out.

There were no further details in the statement.

Orazio Valente, the general manager of Kawartha Downs, said on Wednesday he hasn’t been told when the reopening might take place.

“Employees will continue to get paid and the casino will reopen – but we don’t know the timeline,” he said in an interview.

Kellie Warren, an 18-year employee at Kawartha Downs and chief steward for Service Employees International Union Local 2, was cleaning and redecorating on Wednesday.

There’s work to do if the shutdown persists, she said: the facility has been operating 24/7 for 19 years, leaving no time to renovate.

Warren and her co-workers are cleaning the two bars, the concession areas and a fine-dining area; she said the slots area has been draped off in the meantime.

It all leaves Warren feeling very much in the dark, she said, even as she scrubs floors.

“I do know I have a job,” she said. “But when are we reopening? I don’t know.”

Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs were expected to close for good, when the casino in Peterborough opened; there are no further harness races scheduled there, and all of the 500 slot machines were scheduled to be removed by Oct. 15.

But the facility was saved when the Ontario government and Kawartha

Downs came to a last-minute agreement on Thanksgiving weekend that would allow the Downs to keep 150 of its slot machines.

The agreement was meant to keep the facility open and 30 food and beverage workers on the job.

Ted Mansell, business agent for Service Employees International Union Local 2, said on Wednesday he’s concerned for workers who don’t know, one day to the next, whether Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs is about to reopen.

He’s unhappy with the Ontario government in particular, which he says has mishandled the situation.

“I wish they would get their act togeth-

er,” he said.

Cavan Monaghan Township Mayor Scott McFadden said he’d phoned Premier Doug Ford directly, just prior to Thanksgiving weekend, to see what could be done about saving the facility from permanent closure. The agreement came about later that weekend.

On Wednesday McFadden said he looks forward to the grand reopening. “In the meantime, their employees continue to work.”