British Columbia’s provincial gambling monopoly has approved a new brick-and-mortar casino but let’s hope this one is a little less uptight about sharing badly needed medical gear in an emergency.
Last week, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) announced that it had selected the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island as the site of the province’s latest casino. The provincial capital beat out four other jurisdictions that had expressed interest in hosting a casino.
Victoria is already home to the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation‘s View Royal Casino, which BCLC insists will remain the region’s “primary” facility while the scope of the new venue will have to “suit the market.” BCLC has yet to select which company will get to run the new boutique casino.
Meanwhile, across the Strait of Georgia in Vancouver, Paragon Gaming’s Edgewater Casino has been called out in the press for not coming to the aid of an unconscious man, allegedly because the man wasn’t a customer.
Global News reported that a group of friends found a man lying in a downtown parking lot early Sunday morning. Fearing that the unresponsive man had suffered a heart attack, the group called 911 and a dispatcher instructed one of the group to go across the street to the Edgewater property and borrow their automated external defibrillator (AED) while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
However, once the individual got to Edgewater, a doorman refused his request to borrow the AED. A manager also refused, justifying his refusal by pointing out that the unconscious man wasn’t on Edgewater property. Fortunately for the unconscious man, the ambulance arrived shortly thereafter and transported him to hospital, where he was revived.
Edgewater told Global that it had a policy of lending out its AED regardless of whether or not the person in need is on casino property. Edgewater officials say they are investigating the group’s claims to the contrary.
Edgewater is itself living on borrowed time, as its gaming license will eventually be transferred to the much larger Parq Vancouver being built across the street. The Parq was slated to open to the public later this year but is now tipped for a “fall 2017” opening. The Parq will feature a 72k-square-foot casino floor offering 600 slots and 75 table games.
