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VOL. 25, NO. 73
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Casino profits boost city’s bank account
I
AfTer Six years of decline, city sees gambling revenues start to bounce back. By TaMaRa CuNNINghaM ThE NEwS BULLETiN
CHRIS BUSH/THe NewS BUlleTIN
Mounties search a suspect and a stolen car after a double robbery and car chase through Nanaimo that ended on the corner of St. Andrew’s Street and Arbutus Avenue shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday. Two of three suspects involved in the robbery were captured Wednesday with one still at large Monday.
Double robbery caper ends after police chase By ChRIS BuSh
ThE NEwS BULLETiN
Police in Nanaimo are still tracking down a third suspect following a double robbery that concluded with a police chase through a residential neighbourhood as suspects fled in a stolen vehicle. Events unfolded shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday when an employee at Matheson Jewellers and Fine Art on Turner Road called 911 saying a man had fled the premises after threatening to smash the store’s display cases. The would-be robber ran off
empty handed and police now had his description and that of the car he was driving from the store’s staff. The next call came at 4:25 p.m. from Central Drugs store staff at Dufferin Crescent where two men, wearing masks, threatened to pepper spray the employees. This time the men robbed the store of drugs – police are not disclosing the quantity and type of drugs taken – and fled in a stolen blue Ford Focus, the same vehicle used in the previous robbery attempt. The car had been reported stolen on Tuesday. “Which helps,” said Const. Gary
O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman. Drug store staff also provided descriptions of the two men. When Mounties spotted the Ford being driven on Waddington Road a short time later the chase was on as more than 24 police officers swarmed into the area. The public got in on the chase too. O’Brien said people out walking their dogs and returning home from work pointed out the direction of the stolen Ford to police as the chase zigzagged through the residential neighbourhood. u See ‘MOUNTIES’ /4
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Nanaimo could see the end to its six-year casino revenue losing streak. The City of Nanaimo anticipates its cut from Great Canadian Casinos will jump almost nine per cent from last year, making it the first increase in gambling dollars since 2007. Revenue at the slots and gaming tables has been slipping year-over-year. The streak started in 2008 when the city’s share of casino revenue dropped by more than $176,000 to $3 million. The following year it fell $274,000 and by 2012 it was down to $2.3 million. The casino blames competitive gaming centres and cautious spending – a result of the economic downturn. Ultimately, taxpayers pay the price for revenue losses. As a host city to a casino, the municipality gets 10 per cent of the gambling cash flow pulled in after prizes. It’s one of the few revenue alternatives to taxation and with no strings attached, city officials can use it to fund nearly anything they want, according to Brian Clemens, the city’s director of finance. The dollars have been used to pay for policing, social grants and the Nanaimo Museum and if there are shortfalls, city officials look to other means to cover the costs, including taxation. Clemens said the effects of reduced revenues has been offset with reserves – banked when coffers were flush with casino dollars – but money ran out this year. If the city had seen revenue fall again, the losses would have had to be funded by reduced costs or increased taxes, he said. u See ‘SURPLUS’ /4
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