'Very concerning': Camrose casino wants to move to southeast Edmonton

Residents in southeast Edmonton are concerned after finding out that a casino could soon be relocating to their neighbourhood.

Capital City Casinos has applied to move their existing Camrose casino to a vacant lot along Parsons Road in Edmonton.

“We’re concerned about obviously the traffic, this is a horrendous bottleneck right now with South Edmonton Common, and just two lanes going back and forth,” said Neil Richards. “It’s going to make it a nightmare for people that commute."

Richards lives in the Summerside neighbourhood, just two kilometres away from the relocation site.

“Nothing good is going to come out of putting up a 60,000 square foot casino,” he added.

According to the application, the casino would have an estimated 550 slot machines and 25 games tables. There would also be a show lounge, theatre, hotel, and conference facilities.

“Sure, there’s a lot of commercial, industrial area, but you’re also quite close to residents,” said Coun. Keren Tang, who represents the area.

She says she’s received a number of complaints from residents, as the project enters the second phase of planning following preliminary zoning and licencing approval.

“So they’re operating well within what is allowed under the current regulatory zoning requirements. But it kind of happened out of the blue, and no touchpoint with city administration at any point about this feels very concerning.” she told CTV News Edmonton.

Tang is encouraging residents who have concerns to contact Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis directly. She plans to write a letter to AGLC as well.

AGLC released the following written statement on the relocation:

“AGLC will determine if the proposed project can move forward to Step Three in the process. The AGLC Board will then approve or deny the relocation proposal, taking into consideration community and stakeholder input, market demand, benefits to charitable groups and impact on other charitable gaming activities in the community. ”

The deadline for public feedback is Wednesday.

It is expected the AGLC will make a decision on the relocation later this year.

AGLC also confirmed that if the relocation goes ahead, the casino would continue to serve the same charities in the Camrose area it does today.

The City of Edmonton says it is still reviewing the information and does not have an update at this time.

The president of the casino was not available for comment on Monday, but a spokesperson says he plans to address community concerns later this week. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Joe Scarpelli.