Century Casino Gets Approval

New casino projects spring up in Canada despite declining revenues across North America.

This past Wednesday Century Casinos Inc. announced that it has received approval for its Century Downs Racetrack and Casino project. With the necessary permits now attained the company hopes to begin construction as soon as possible. The preparing the ground for the foundation could occur within the next few weeks.

New casinos projects are surprising to many observers, as online casinos in Canada continue to gain popularity while land-based casinos are seeing declining revenues. However, the prime location of Century Downs makes investors hopeful that it will be an exception to current trends.

Century sees something special in project

The building site is located just off of the Queen Elizabeth II Highway which runs between Calgary and Edmonton and is the heaviest traffic highway in Western Canada. It is also situated perfectly to serve the gamblers from North and Northwest Calgary, who currently have no nearby casino options.

In contrast the US, Canadian gambling laws are fairly permissive and it is not as difficult to obtain licensing and permits. Century CEOs Erwin Haitzmann and Peter Hoetzinger remarked on the ease of the process: "We are excited about the go-ahead received from Rocky View County and are grateful for the tremendous support the project continues to receive from local and provincial communities and regulatory authorities."