Gateway Casinos Sudbury adds blackjack and poker tables, creating 24 jobs

Gateway Casinos Sudbury has opened six staffed gaming tables, bringing blackjack and poker games to the Greater Sudbury area for the first time. The operator says the addition has created about 24 new jobs at the venue.

The new tables are on the gaming floor of the casino at its Azilda site in Chelmsford, northwest of downtown Sudbury. Three of them are blackjack tables. The other three each offer a different poker game: Ultimate Texas Hold'em, Mississippi Stud and Four Card Poker.

The tables join a floor that already had more than 400 slot machines and electronic table games, according to the trade publication iNTERGAME. The casino's restaurant and dining options are unchanged.

Gateway Casinos & Entertainment announced the launch on Aug. 26. The company described the Sudbury venue as the first gaming facility in the Greater Sudbury market to offer table games run by dealers, and said the expansion supports the area's hospitality and tourism economy.

Jim Love, general manager of Gateway Casinos Sudbury, said the expansion "creates local employment opportunities" and reflects the company's commitment to the community. A newly hired dealer, identified only as Marie-Anne, told G3 Newswire she was looking forward to meeting players face to face at the tables.

New casino planned on The Kingsway

The table games arrive while Gateway pursues plans for a new casino and hotel on The Kingsway in Sudbury. That project cleared a step at city hall earlier in August.

On Aug. 11, Greater Sudbury city council agreed to repay Gateway up to $3.035 million for road and intersection work linked to the Kingsway site. The city plans to refill the reserve used for that work with future gaming revenue it receives through the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).

Gateway has not announced an opening date for the Kingsway casino. For now, the Azilda site remains the company's only casino in the Sudbury area.