Sand Hills Casino on four-year losing streak
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/04/2019 (2612 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
BRANDON — The Sand Hills Casino has posted four consecutive years of deficits since it opened, with total losses surpassing more than $9 million as of last year.
Audited financial statements show the Carberry gaming facility made $11.3 million in revenue as of March 31, 2018, including $9.4 million in gaming revenue. The casino ran a net loss of $2.3 million once expenses, interest, depreciation and amortization are factored in.
The loss is lower than the casino’s $2.5-million deficit in 2017, but is greater than the net $1.92-million and $1.3-million losses in 2016 and 2015. Overall, the casino’s accumulated loss has totalled nearly $9.4 million.
Swan Lake First Nation Chief Francine Meeches noted the facility has common ownership among First Nations.
“However, in how business is managed and how the whole operation is, yes, it’s taking a loss. Yes, there are some casinos that may be profitable in the first year, and it may increase or improve throughout for years to come, but it’s in this situation,” she said this week.
“You know, the study was done about whether it was feasible to have a casino in southwestern Manitoba, and so if there was wrong information provided during that time, maybe people were led falsely, so I don’t know.”
Sand Hills Casino is located on Swan Lake First Nation land off Highway 5, south of Carberry, 170 kilometres west of Winnipeg. The casino is run by the Sand Hills Casino Resort Ltd. Partnership, which includes Sand Hills Casino Resort Inc. as a partner.
A study done prior to construction suggested there would be approximately 126,000 visits from Brandon, less than 50 km to the west, but visitation in the first two years of operation was much lower than expected.
Meeches, who serves as secretary of the Sand Hills Casino Resort Inc., said it will continue to operate the facility, adding it provides jobs for Manitobans.
“It’s all business. You just have to figure out how to function and how to operate to try and find the best way possible to bring customers.”
The Brandon Sun did not receive responses from either the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs or Sand Hills Casino. (Documents from the Manitoba Companies Office list the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Secretariat Inc. as a shareholder in Sand Hills Casino Resort Inc.)
The casino’s long-term debt, as of the last available fiscal year, includes three term loans to Hemisphere Gaming of Manitoba Inc. — which manages the casino on behalf of the partnership — worth $6 million, $1.25 million and $7.5 million, respectively, as well as a $68,506 term loan to Manitoba Hydro.
On top of the long-term debt, the partnership also owes more than $9 million in fees and interest to Hemisphere.
— Brandon Sun