Delta Casino Burnaby
Next to the Grand Villa Casino and Scala Show Lounge, this Burnaby hotel offers free WiFi in all areas. All guestrooms offer a 55' flat-screen TV with HD film options. Guests will also appreciate spacious work desks, as well as in-room coffee and tea. A private bathroom includes a shower, free toiletries, and bathrobes. Reviews on Casino Buffet in Burnaby, BC - The Buffet at Grand Villa, The Buffet, DELTA, River Rock Casino Resort, Uncle Willy's, Grand Villa Casino, Starlight Casino, Parq Vancouver.
A federal program aimed at giving loans to some of the largest companies in the country is rolling the dice with $200 million to a casino chain based out of Burnaby.
The loan is the first from what the government has dubbed the 'large employer emergency financing facility,' or LEEF for short, that is aimed at providing loans to companies with revenues of $300 million or more.
While there had been a handful of interested companies talking with federal authorities about accessing financing through the program, nothing had been handed out since the program's introduction in May.
Now, the federal corporation that oversees the program says it has approved the $200-million loan to Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited, which has operations in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
This includes Burnaby’s Grand Villa Casino, which has been closed ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is unclear if the casinos will be opening anytime soon, although the B.C. government hasn’t indicated it will allow it.
Information posted online Friday notes that $60 million has already been drawn.
A release about the loan says the money will be used by the company to rehire some of its 8,000 employees at its 26 sites when they can reopen in accordance with local and provincial health guidelines.
Gateway's CEO, Anthony Santo, says the financing will support restarting operations and returning people to work when it is safe and viable to do so.
When the Liberals unveiled the program, officials said that loans would begin at $60 million, be on commercial terms and require companies to have already been unsuccessful at getting loans from traditional financing sources.
Loan agreements are also supposed to include limits on the ability for companies to use the money for restructuring, dividend payments, share buybacks and executive compensation.
- With files from the Canadian Press
Gateway Casinos & Entertainment (GCE) and BC Lottery Corporation are seeking permission from the City of Burnaby to provide Grand Villa Casino and Delta Burnaby Hotel complex with a gaming expansion.
See also
The casino owner and operator wants to expand the casino location’s permitted number of slot machines from 1,200 to 1,600 over two phases — a combined total of 400 additional machines.
The first phase by 2020 would be accomplished by reallocating administrative office space for an expanded gaming floor, which would allow for the addition of 200 machines.
This office space would be relocated to a new office space built into the adjacent multi-level parkade structure. Under this phase, no changes to the building exterior are proposed.
“There would be no technical added density to the project. However, there would be a shift in uses with respect to floor areas and gaming positions that would need to be calculated with respect to parking demand and supply,” reads a letter of intent by Mallen Gowing Berzins Architecture.
Delta Grand Villa Casino Burnaby
To accomplish the second phase of adding a further 200 machines, physical changes to the casino building allowing an expansion of the gaming area will be required, and this will be pursued with a future rezoning application.
In 2017, GCE announced a $15 million renovation to the gaming floor, a refresh of the attached Delta Hotels Burnaby Conference Centre and public spaces, and the addition of new dining options. These changes reached full completion late last year.
Delta Marriott Casino Hotel Burnaby
Located at 4320 Dominion Street, just off Highway 1 near Willingdon Avenue, Grand Villa Casino’s existing two-storey casino building was built and opened in 2008 at a cost of about $180 million. At the time, it had a 104,000-sq-ft gaming area — including the 64,500-sq-ft gaming floor — with 1,000 machines and 86 gaming tables.
Subsequent changes to the floor area resulted in an increase in the number of machines to 1,200, as well as a slight decrease in the size of the gaming floor area to 56,952-sq-ft.
The attached 24-storey Delta by Marriott hotel complex, originally built in the 1960s, was completely renovated during casino construction. It has 195 guest rooms and 20,000-sq-ft of meeting and conference space.
According to the City of Burnaby’s latest financial plan, the municipal government is forecast to see $9.5 million in revenue from the casino, based on the provincial government’s formula of providing 10% of a casino’s net earnings to the host municipality.
GCE is also building a new $70-million casino and hotel complex in Delta, near the south end of the George Massey Tunnel.
