Toronto Casino Update - May 1, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, we reported that changes might be made to Ontario Regulation 347/00 under the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation Act, 1999 that would affect the need for public approval of the proposed Toronto casino. The regulations presently require that a municipal referendum be held to approve a proposed casino development, and they further require that the referendum be held during the regularly scheduled municipal election. At the time of our last article, it was unclear whether the regulations would be amended to simply accelerate the referendum or to do away with the referendum requirement entirely.

Recent events strongly indicate that the government will remove the referendum requirement, perhaps replacing it with a requirement to obtain some expression of public support that does not necessarily require a referendum vote. The provincial government will not likely do away with the requirement to obtain municipal approval. A municipal resolution