Slot machines at the Haney Bingo Plex are raking in money for its parent company.
Great Canadian Gaming Corporation credits the installation of the 100 machines for boosting its quarterly revenue in B.C. by $1.1 million.
For the second quarter of 2011, the company recorded revenues of $99.5 million, a $2.5-million increase from the second quarter of 2010.
Great Canadian Gaming expanded the Haney Bingo Plex last year at a cost of about a million dollars, to make room for the slots.
“Great Canadian’s community gaming centres have proven themselves as a source of growth in this otherwise consistent environment,” Ross J. McLeod, Great Canadian’s chairman and chief executive officer.
“While our success at Maple Ridge is partly driven by Boulevard gaming patrons displaced by the construction adjacent to that property, our temporary gaming offerings in Maple Ridge have been well received and that market continues to develop.”
The District of Maple Ridge gets 10 per cent of revenues from the slot machines and is expecting to earn at least $300,000 annually.
The success of the Maple Ridge facility has prompted the company to purchase a bingo hall and land in Chilliwack, where it plans to spend $15 million on a new community gaming centre.
Great Canadian Gaming also has plans for a new gaming centre in Maple Ridge, on Lougheed Highway at 227th Street.
The site is currently being pre-loaded with soil to prepare it for construction. Construction is expected to take place over two years.