The biggest and newest casino in Vancouver is bleeding ink, and that is red ink after the imposing of the new protocols on anti-money laundering. Para Equity Limited, the owner of the Parq Vancouver Casino, reported a loss of C$ 108.3 within the first nine months of last year that comes to operating losses worth C$17.7 million.
Red Ink Blood Stream Started Flowing in 2017
The red ink stream of blood has been spilling since the previous result in 2017 when Parq of C$28.3 million reported a net profit in spite of only being open to the public for three months. Needless to say, Jonathan Goodman, the CEO of Dundee, was disappointed and frustrated with the performance of the Parq Casino. He commented that it continues to seek solutions related to the problems of the venue.
Liberal Government’s Disinterest Increased the Problem
Within the first half of last year, Goodman warned that the Parq had problems and its progress was much slower than expected, at that stage the loss was C$80.8 million. Part of the problem, according to Goodman, was the government imposed anti-money laundering protocols. The rules were directed at BC casinos as well as the previous Liberal government’s disinterest in halting the gravy train of the revenue from casino tax. Parq Casino was one of the BC casinos that in October got assigned a third-party auditor; this was to ensure the venue was honouring their obligations.
Millions Invested in Parq Casino
PELP announced in October that it was prepared to borrow Parq C$20 million, the casino would be able to use this money to cover the payment they had to on debt as well as using it for venue capital. This would be in addition to the cash that was already injected into Parq that came to C$33.4 million.
Musician Drake Slams Parq Casino Publicly
By November Parq Casino faced a significant setback, and this time from Drake, the Canadian hip hop star slammed the casino publicly and said the casino was profiling him. This took place when he stopped to gamble after his concert. The casino explained that Drake was caught up in the rules of the new source of funds, but did apologize publicly to the musician, this caused even more confusion over the matter.
Parq Future Clouded by Huge Financial Debt
Even in 2019, there is no sign that any meaningful improvements in profitability are on the map for Parq Casino. It is burden by debt, and this will continue until it ends up closing. If the casino closes, it will offer less competition to others such as the River Rock Casino Resort that is owned by the Great Canadian Gaming. Last year the Canadian Gaming saw a fall of 3% across its five casinos to $268 million. This could change considerably with the Parq Casino out the way.