RICHMOND, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Dec. 18, 2006) - Great Canadian Gaming Corporation (TSX:GCD) (the "Company") announced today that it has entered into a letter of intent with the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority ("TransLink") and Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc. ("Canada Line") to construct a new 1,200 stall parkade adjacent to the Company's River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, British Columbia.
Subject to the execution of final agreements, expected in early 2007, construction on the new parkade is expected to commence in mid-2007. Pursuant to the execution of a final agreement, Canada Line will transfer title of five parcels of land (approximately five acres in aggregate) to the Company. Approximately 2.
6 acres of this land will be used for the parkade development. Canada Line will also contribute $4.5 million towards the construction costs of the project.
The cost of the parkade facility development is expected to be approximately $33 million. The River Rock property currently experiences parking shortages during peak weekend periods. The parkade, which may include some retail space and will be built in a style consistent with the existing River Rock parkade, addresses this weekend parking shortage by providing additional capacity for current and future patron demand.
In addition, the parkade will help reduce the approximately $1 million of annual expenses associated with off-site employee parking that the Company currently incurs. Ross J. McLeod, Chairman and CEO of Great Canadian, commented, "The agreement with Canada Line is consistent with our goal of delivering an integrated, high quality guest experience.
We are also very pleased that Canada Line was willing to include the land transfer in the agreement. This will provide us with ownership of several large, contiguous, and usable land parcels in River Rock's immediate vicinity. The property's recent expansions have generated consistent growth in guest visitation, which in turn drives both gaming and nongaming revenue.
This agreement will allow us to accommodate both increased patronage and opportunities for future development." Under the terms of the agreement, the parkade will be reserved for Canada Line customer's weekdays between 5:30 a.m.
and 7:00 p.m. and the Company will receive incremental revenue from the operation of the parkade during these hours, as well as revenue from non-casino customers outside of these hours.
Milton Woensdregt, Chief Financial Officer of Great Canadian Gaming, commented, "The business case for the new parkade meets the Company's criteria for returns on new development expenditures." Great Canadian is a multi-jurisdictional gaming and entertainment operator with facilities in British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Washington State. Great Canadian operates fourteen casinos, five thoroughbred or standardbred racecourses, a community gaming centre, a hotel, two show theatres, and various food and beverage facilities.
Further information is available on the Company's website, . The Canada Line rapid transit system will run fully separated from traffic between the transportation hub at Waterfront Centre in Vancouver, the heart of Richmond's civic precinct, and Vancouver International Airport. With 16 stations, two bridges, over 9 km of tunnel, parking and bus facilities, and transit capacity equivalent to 10 road lanes, the Canada Line will be an important new link in the regional transportation network.
The Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (TransLink), and Vancouver International Airport Authority are funding the Canada Line, which is also supported by the Cities of Vancouver and Richmond. The project is overseen by Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc. (Canada Line), a subsidiary of TransLink.
The Line is being designed, built, operated, maintained and partially financed by InTransitBC. This news release contains forward-looking statements which reflect management's current expectations regarding the Company's objectives, plans, goals, strategies, future growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees, but only predictions.
Although the Company believes that these statements are based on information and assumptions which are current, reasonable and complete, these statements are necessarily subject to a number of factors that could cause actual results to vary significantly from current expectations. Such differences may be caused by factors which include, but are not limited to, ongoing requirements to comply with financial covenants associated with credit facilities, limited terms of operational service agreements with gaming regulators, pending and proposed legislative or regulatory developments, competition from established competitors and new entrants in the gaming business, dependence on key personnel, no assurance that systems, procedures and controls will be adequate to support expanding operations, potential undisclosed liabilities and capital expenditures associated with acquisitions, negative connotations linked to the gaming industry, First Nations claims with respect to public lands on which we conduct our operations, impact of legal proceedings, impact of smoking bans, interest and exchange rate fluctuations, non-realization of cost reductions and synergies, acceptance and demand for new products and services, fluctuations in operating results and general economic conditions. The Company cautions that this list of factors is not exhaustive.
These factors and other risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company's materials filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities from time to time, including in the "Risks Factors" section of the Company's Annual Information Form for fiscal 2005, or as identified in the Company's disclosure record on . The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made only as of the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake to publicly update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.
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