The total layoffs amount to 19 positions. In addition to the layoff announcement of four full-time and three part-time workers at the Sudbury casino who are represented by Unifor Local 598, there will be a layoff of six positions at Gateway Casino Point Edward, and another six at Gateway Casinos Dresden, which are represented by Local 444. Unifor represents 40 casino workers in Sudbury. The former Liberal government decided to privatize gaming operations in Ontario, as part of a modernization effort, which includes building new casinos in cities like Sudbury and North Bay. Gateway plans to open a new casino beside the City of Greater Sudbury’s new arena/events centre in the Kingsway Entertainment District.īoth the $100-million arena and the casino face a host of legal challenges.

In Sudbury, Gateway took over Slots at Sudbury Downs, formerly run by the OLG. After the OLG outsourced gaming operations and sold off assets, the British Columbia-based Gateway Casinos and Entertainment enterprise purchased several facilities across Ontario. “Unifor stated all along that the sale of a Crown corporation and its operations will negatively affect workers and good jobs in Ontario, and Gateway is doing just that.”Īs the largest union in the gaming sector, Unifor said it expressed concern about the privatization of gaming. “Gateway’s decision to reduce the hours of operation at most of its Ontario casinos is a perfect example of why Unifor was against the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) modernization plan all along,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor’s national president, said in a release Monday. The decision to privatize Ontario’s gaming operations is the reason Gateway Casinos Sudbury is laying off seven employees here, the workers’ union says.

Gateway casinos union