On Friday, January 27, the Playtime Casino in Wasaga Beach celebrated its grand opening, having had its soft launch sometime in November last year in the Ontario province.
In the grand opening, the Mayor of Wasaga Beach, Brian Smith, expressed his delight for the operator to have picked Wasaga as their location for business. He thanked the casino operator for bringing in job opportunities for its locals, coming to aid their economy, and also adding to the reason more guests will want to visit the beach.
“It’s great to see Gateway’s new Playtime Casino off to such a wonderful start here in Wasaga Beach,” Smith said.
“I am so pleased that [Gateway] chose our community to invest and share our confidence in the potential for our town. [It’s] not only providing jobs but another reason to visit the beach.”
The Playtime Casino in Wasaga Beach has already created around 140 job opportunities for locals, and it still aims to provide more. The casino, which is 25,000 square feet, features several gaming tables, about 250 slot machines, an arcade bar on the gaming floor, the Gateway’s signature brand restaurant, MATCH Eatery & Public House, and an outdoor patio.
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Besides creating job opportunities, the operator has already begun other charitable duties in Wasaga through its GatewayGives initiative. On Friday, it donated the sum of $5,000 to the Wasaga Beach Ministerial Food Bank.
The chief marketing and communications officer at Gateway, Carrie Kormos, said it has been recently loved by the locals of Wasaga Beach, who have shown their extreme support, which denotes that the casino will excel in Wasaga Beach.
“We have been warmly welcomed by this community from the day we announced our intention to locate here,” said Kormos. “We believe Wasaga Beach has a great future, and our investment here, supported by OLG, is now showing dividends not only in the 140 new jobs we have created, but in establishing a year-round entertainment attraction for both visitors and residents of the beach.”
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) president and Chief Executive Officer Duncan Hannay shared that it is a great privilege to have partnered with the world-class operator on this journey to Wasaga Beach. Hunnay noted that the casino is already making huge contributions to the community just a few months after opening.
“It is a real privilege to be able to partner with communities like Wasaga Beach in working with our service providers to deliver capital investment, create jobs, and offer world-class entertainment in a safe and secure environment,” said Hannay. “In a little over a month, we have seen how the new Playtime Casino Wasaga Beach has already begun to contribute to the life of the region.”
Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited, which is the parent company of The Playtime Casino Wasaga Beach, is one of the leading gambling and entertainment operators in Canada with about 24 gaming establishments all around Ontario, British Columbia, and one each in Alberta and Edmonton. The company estimates a staff capacity of about 7,000 people, about 330 table games, around 14 thousand plus slots, close to a hundred restaurants, and about 561 hotel rooms.