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EDMONTON - Enoch Reserve's River Cree Resort and Casino may not attain full-blown Vegas status when it opens its doors in late October, but it will be a big draw for local gamblers, partiers and hockey players.
"This will be the premier destination resort in all of Western Canada," resort manager Brian Lee boasted Wednesday as he led a gaggle of reporters and cameramen inside the $178-million complex.
To prove his point, Lee pointed skyward at the canopy over the entrance, a timber-frame structure meant to protect tour groups from the elements as they descend from fleets of charter buses. The canopy measures 35 metres by 28 metres.
Once inside, the media were confronted by a massive circular gaming room, a full one-third larger than Yellowhead Casino, currently this city's largest gambling venue.
In the coming weeks, workers will install 600 slot machines and 40 gaming tables in that space. If enough customers show up, that number may grow to 1,200 machines.
Those machines will pay out 92.4 per cent of the money they take in -- the standard established and mandated by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor commission, says Kevan Schell, director of slots operations.
That's a better payout percentage than many machines in Las Vegas, but less than the premium machines which pay out as much as 98 to 99 per cent, Schell said.
But the resort is much more than a gambling mecca where smoking will be allowed in certain areas, Lee pointed out.
Dining facilities and bars ring the circular gaming area. Among those watering holes is Tap 25, a sports bar and grill with 25 varieties of draft beer and 20 large-screen TVs.
Bleacher seating will allow patrons to gaze through massive floor-to-ceiling windows at an NHL-sized hockey rink. That rink is one of two within the complex.
"We already have 700 hockey players signed up to play here and we expect that to grow," said Grant Ballantyne, president of Canlan Ice Sports, the rinks' operators.
Upstairs from the gaming room is a nine-storey, 255-room hotel complete with swimming pool and fitness centre.
Robert Morin, president of the Enoch Casino Corp., is pleased with the project.
"It's been underway for 15 years," Morin said. "At first it wasn't working out. Then Paragon Gaming came forward, gave us the administrative discipline to come forward with a gaming plan and we built this beautiful resort as partners."
Economic benefits to Enoch Cree First Nation include jobs as well as cash flow. Up to 300 construction workers were employed on construction of the complex. Thirty of those workers were Enoch band members -- a significant economic boost for a reserve where unemployment rates reach 65 per cent.
Morin hopes 100 to 200 Enoch Cree will find permanent jobs with the resort in the next month. To date, a total of 5,000 people have applied for its 700 to 800 positions.
Other economic benefits will accrue as soon as the first slot machine spins.
"Fifteen per cent of gambling revenue goes to our Me'cet Society," said Morin.
Me'Cet, a not-for profit society, will distribute those dollars to local schools, social development and employment projects and for job training.
Fifteen per cent of gambling revenues will be kept by Paragon. The Alberta Lottery Fund will receive 30 per cent, 30 per cent will be put into the general revenue of Enoch Cree Nation while the remaining 10 per cent will be set aside for Alberta's other First Nations.
That's just the gambling proceeds, Morin points out. Once the resort itself begins to make a profit -- and that may take two years -- Paragon Gaming will keep 55 per cent of that profit. Enoch First Nation will receive the remaining 45 per cent.
Morin figures it's a safe bet those dollars will transform his reserve.
"We need 700 new homes," he said. "We need new schools. We need a larger fire department. We have a number of wish lists."
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