Aseneskak Casino, a casino located near the Pas is looking to shift themselves to south in next couple of years. If this happens and the casino moves out from the pas, then it would be the third major employer of the area, closing the shop and leaving out from the region.
Suzanne Barbeau-Bracegirdle, the chief executive officer of the Aseneskak casino said that we are having a difficult time here and the market is not doing well for us. She states that we are generating some revenue from our casino but it is not enough or our partners.
She also said that the province has allowed them to have 600 + gaming machines but due to the market conditions, we have opted only to operate 172 machines Plus they have a license to operate 40 gambling tables, but they only operate six as per now.
The market to which we are currently operating is quite saturated and that’s why we are looking to move to a new location, which has bigger market than this, she added.
Aseneskak casino was opened back in 2002 in Opaskwayak Cree Nation with 210 employees but now there are around 150.
This was the third consecutive announcement by three big employers of Opaskayak Cree Nation. The first one was Omnitrax, which announced to close Port of Churchill and then the Tolko Industries, which announced to close their paper Mill industry employing 332 workers and now the latest in this is Aseneskak Casino with 147 employees. The CEO of the casino hopes that many of the 147 employees will move with the casino.
Meanwhile the relocation plan will require provincial approval, because the license of the casino was renewed in May 2015 for next 20 years.