The municipal councilor who represents the west of the city center promised Tuesday a “bumpy journey” to Loto-Québec for its project to create a gaming room at the Bell Center.
Serge Sasseville, councilor for the Peter-McGill district, spoke at the city council on Tuesday to express his opposition to the project and his desire to block it.
“It’s a neighborhood where we already have huge problems with crime, vulnerable people, homelessness, violence, drug trafficking, prostitution. So it’s out of the question for such a project to be opened at the Bell Center, as far as I’m concerned,” he told the city council.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Serge Sasseville
The Press revealed at the end of February that Loto-Québec had been planning for several months the creation of a gaming lounge at the Bell Center, in collaboration with Groupe CH. The establishment, installed in the premises of the former 1909 Taverne Moderne restaurant, would have hundreds of slot machines and sports betting terminals.
Mr. Sasseville believes that the project should necessarily pass before the borough council of Ville-Marie, where he sits with five other elected officials. “I only have one voice on the borough council, but I can assure you that I will make it strong enough to oppose this project so that it never sees the light of day” , he said. “I will paraphrase Bette Davis in All About Eve : Fasten your seatbelt, it will be a bumpy ride. »