Surrey North Delta Leader, March 12, 2013

Page 1

Remembering Janice Shore page 3

New season for North Surrey garden club Community listings: page 22

Tuesday

See today’s specials n o page 24!

March 12, 2013

KIN’S

KET FARM MAR

Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com

New poll finds backing for existing gaming facilities, but not for additional venues

Residents not willing to bet on new casinos by Jeff Nagel

A NEW POLL suggests Lower Mainland residents generally support a casino in their

community – if one already exists. The new Insights West online poll found a 55-per-cent majority of Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley residents whose community hosts a casino supports it, but the mood is marginally against gambling venues in cities that don’t yet have one. In those areas, 45 per cent oppose a new casino, compared to 42 per cent who support a future addition. The findings come in the wake of Surrey city council’s rejection in January of a new 600-slot South Surrey casino and entertainment complex, which would have replaced an existing community gaming centre in Newton. “After the Surrey casino debacle, there has been a lot of public debate about the level of public support for or against the construction of new casinos,” Insights West president Steve Mossop said. “Our poll shows that, generally speaking, the public is in favour of casinos – just not new ones.” The poll found a overwhelming majority of regular casino patrons (84 per cent) support existing casinos and two-thirds of patrons back new ones in municipalities that don’t yet have them. The top concern respondents LEADER FILE PHOTO listed was problem gambling, with Most people surveyed in a recent poll 72 per cent agreeing casinos make it oppose the creation of new casinos. worse, while 48 per cent said they’re harmful to society and bring crime and gang activity. Traffic and parking were also a concern of nearly half of those polled. Casino opponents and supporters generally agreed casinos boost the local tax base, bring jobs and attract tourists. The big divide between the two camps is whether casinos are bad for society – 88 per cent of opponents think so but only 10 per cent of supporters do. “These findings suggest that the greatest barrier for support of casinos is not a simple NIMBY [not in my back yard] syndrome, but instead the broader concern about societal problems that a greater access to casino gambling can create,” Mossop said.

DAVE EAGLES / BLACK PRESS

Holy Cross Crusaders are B.C. champions Michelle Bos of the Holy Cross Crusaders takes flight as she splits the J.L. Crowe Hawks defence during the B.C. Senior AA Girls High School Basketball Championships at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops. The Crusaders won all four games played to win the championship. For the full story, see page 17.

Editorial 6 Letters 7 Sports 17 Datebook 22 Classifieds 23

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