Vancouver council votes 5-4 to let Parq Casino add 300 slot machines
The downtown casino can grow from 600 to 900 slots after a split vote, despite concerns raised by a regional health official.
Vancouver city council has approved an increase in slot machines at Parq Casino downtown, raising the venue's limit from 600 machines to 900.
The 5-4 vote came on Tuesday, Feb. 17, Vancouver Is Awesome reported. Five ABC Vancouver councillors voted in favour. Four councillors opposed the increase: Pete Fry of the Green Party, Sean Orr of COPE, Lucy Maloney of OneCity and Rebecca Bligh of Vote Vancouver. Mayor Ken Sim and ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung did not vote.
Council approved the change despite concerns from Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, Vancouver Coastal Health's deputy chief medical health officer. He told council that Parq and BCLC could not provide data on current harms linked to the casino, or on how well their player protection measures work. A city staff report projected that roughly 6,000 net new patrons could fall into the low, moderate or high-risk categories of problem gambling over five years.
Revenue and the case for more machines
BCLC president and CEO Patrick Davis presented the application. He said the city's population has grown by more than 20 per cent since council imposed a moratorium on gambling expansion 15 years ago, while casino capacity stayed the same, and that many Vancouver players now go to other Lower Mainland casinos. Coun. Lenny Zhou, the only ABC member to explain his vote, said Parq would still have far fewer slots than casinos in Burnaby, Richmond and Langley.
Host municipalities receive 10 per cent of the net gaming revenue from casinos in their jurisdiction. Vancouver received $6.1 million from Parq in the 2024-25 fiscal year. Parq estimates the extra machines would bring the city about $1 million more a year in the first three years. It has also offered to raise its responsible gaming agreement with the city from $600,000 a year to $750,000 in 2027 and $900,000 in 2028.
Sandra Garossino, a co-founder of the Vancouver Not Vegas coalition, told council that past BCLC revenue projections for the city had repeatedly fallen short.
Parq Holdings Limited Partnership and the BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) filed parallel applications with the city to add the 300 machines. The casino is at 39-65 Smithe St., next to BC Place stadium.
The applications first came to council on Feb. 3 in a referral report, which asked councillors whether to send them to a public hearing. Under B.C.'s Gaming Control Act, a host local government must act "to satisfy BCLC that adequate community input has been sought and considered" before deciding on a substantial change to a gaming facility, the report noted.