Canadian casino near Detroit eyes expansion

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

A Canadian government agency, owner of the Detroit area's oldest casino property, is discussing plans to expand the casino's hotel and bus capacity in the face of rising competition from the U.S. side. The multimillion-dollar expansion would include 150 to 200 additional hotel rooms and a depot able to accommodate 12 buses at a time.

The current 389-room hotel has an average occupancy rate of 99 percent, said Ron Barbaro, CEO of Ontario Casino Corp., which owns the Casino Windsor.

Ontario Casino is controlled by Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corp., which in turn is owned by the Canadian province of Ontario. The Casino Windsor is managed and operated by Windsor Casino Ltd., a joint venture of Las Vegas-based Park Place Entertainment Corp. and Park Place's sister firm and former parent company, Hilton Hotels Corp.

Windsor is located just east of Detroit, and Casino Windsor once dominated casino gambling in the Detroit metro area. That was before Detroit legalized gambling. Today, three casinos are operating in Detroit, and two are operated by Park Place competitors from Las Vegas: MGM Grand Detroit, owned by MGM MIRAGE; and MotorCity, majority-owned by Mandalay Resort Group.

Almost immediately after opening its permanent Casino Windsor in 1998, Ontario Casino discussed the need to expand the government-owned gambling hall to compete more effectively against Detroit's new casinos. It wasn't until earlier this year, however, that Ontario Casino was able to lock up nearly two acres of land west of Casino Windsor to accommodate an expansion.

"They came to us looking for idea for what we might be able to put there (to expand the casino), even before the casinos in Detroit opened," said Jim Mundy, spokesman for Windsor Casino Ltd. "We've been watching the market to see ... what would be the best use for it (the available land)."

Mundy declined to comment on what Windsor Casino had recommended to the Ontario government.

As far as who would pay for such an expansion, Mundy said the cost of building the Casino Windsor was split between the government and Windsor Casino. "But I don't think we're that far along yet," in determining who will pay for this expansion, Mundy said.

In the past seven years, the number of tour buses that Casino Windsor is able to host on an average day has risen from five to 40.

With a new 12-bus depot, "we think we could handle 90 or 100 a day," Barbaro told The Detroit News for a report Tuesday.

Ontario Casino is now controlled by the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corp., whose board will be asked to approve the expansion in October. Additional approval would be needed by Ontario's Management Board of Cabinet. Construction could start next summer and take 18 months.

The timetable for Detroit's three permanent casinos -- which would include a total of 2,400 hotel rooms -- remains uncertain.