Gateway Casinos says its new location in North Bay, Ontario, which was originally scheduled to open in 2020, will open early in 2022, as it looks to hire 200 new staff.
The site had originally broken ground in 2019, however, construction was derailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has since resumed once again in April of this year.
Rob Mitchell, director of communications and public affairs with Gateway Casinos, said: “We’re hoping to open early in the New Year. We were very fortunate in terms of COVID that we were fairly well along in this build”.
“We had purchased a lot of the construction materials and warehoused a lot of materials in advance of the lockdown really coming in at full force,” he added.
As of December 7, Gateway Casinos has been hosting a two-week-long job fair, concluding on December 15. The casino is expected to add more than 200 jobs locally.
“There are two reasons to get behind a casino in North Bay. Almost 300 jobs for our community, 300 jobs. We’re anticipating we’re going to receive between one and two million dollars per year depending on the revenue of the casino,” stated North Bay mayor Al McDonald.
“We’re always looking for innovative ways to create more revenue to reduce the taxes and here is a business that is going to generate between one and two million dollars to our city,” McDonald added as reported by CTV News Northern Ontario.
Mitchell explained that currently there’s no exterior construction happening now, explaining that staff is working on the inside of the building.
“Most of the build is happening internally. It’s infrastructure-related and if you’ve been in a casino the wiring is critical so it is a lot of electrical work that is beneath the flooring, so that has to be installed, and then also there are all the kitchen amenities.”
Mitchell did not say what day the casino is set to officially open but said he expects all staff to be hired by early in the upcoming year, adding that then, a ‘soft opening’ will take place before the casino is opened to the public.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2021/12/14/60611-canada-gateways-north-bay-casino-set-to-open-in-early-2022
