701 replies to this topic

[spanky123]

I swung by last week to try the buffet, but between the horrendous parkade (2-way aisles, WTF? Langford trucks made that place impossible) and the endless lineup of desperate seniors trying to collect their "free gift" of the week, I didn't manage to even get to the service desk to get an Elements card, let alone try the buffet itself. I walked out in disgust after looping through the building briefly. The various themed machines made it very, very clear that the place exists solely to draw in Chinese dollars and drain pensioners' accounts.

 

And how is that different than any casino or gambling establishment?!

Edited by spanky123, 10 December 2018 - 09:43 AM.

[Cassidy]

The foundation of blatant lies that the Elements Casino renovations was built upon is catching up with them.

 

• The "great new restaurants" are barely better than McDonald's, and often far worse.
• The "amazing new theatre" is a big, cold square meeting room lacking any actual theatrical ambiance or seating of any kind. It gives View Royal and the Westshore nothing in terms of great entertainment. Their latest "event" is a lowly UFC pay-per-view.
• Their "fantastic new bars" are staffed by amateurs serving watered down drinks as slowly as is possible.
• The "massively expanded parking" is still always full. Not at all surprising as it's not "massively expanded" at all, just marginally improved.

 

Once a dump, always a dump.

In this case, a dump built on lies.

 

Full Disclosure: I do go to Elements expressly for the $1-$2 No-Limit Hold-em games, but only when one of the far more enjoyable private games downtown isn't taking place.

Edited by Cassidy, 10 December 2018 - 09:41 AM.

[spanky123]

^And the upcoming Kiss concert in Vancouver will be their best, biggest and final tour. It is called marketing and opinions are open to debate.

 

If you go to any casino in Canada and expect anything of quality other than slot machines and table games then you are going to be disappointed.

Edited by spanky123, 10 December 2018 - 09:46 AM.

[Cassidy]

 

If you go to any casino in Canada and expect anything of quality other than slot machines and table games then you are going to be disappointed.

Well, granted it's not Broadway - but Canada does indeed have some casinos that offer far better fare than UFC pay-per-view and bad cover bands.

 

https://www.caesars....s-windsor/shows

[spanky123]

Well, granted it's not Broadway - but Canada does indeed have some casinos that offer far better fare than UFC pay-per-view and bad cover bands.

 

https://www.caesars....s-windsor/shows

 

You are right, the Colosseum and Casino Rama have large theaters. Food and bars still suck!

Edited by spanky123, 10 December 2018 - 10:00 AM.

[RFS]

That Caesar's Windsor is pretty cool.  Imagine that on the Wharf street parking lots!

[Cassidy]

..... Food and bars still suck!

Absolutely! As they do in every casino in every city around the world.

One of the great scams perpetrated by casinos the world over is to entice non-gamblers into stepping through their front doors in order to get a cheap meal and/or a free drink.

The non-gambler thinks they're pulling one over on the casino ... which is exactly what the casino wants said non-gambler to keep on believing.

 

Any non-gambler who walks through those front doors for that cheap buffet and/or free drink has played right into the casinos hands ... a dream come true for casinos, in that they've (as per their master plan)managed to entice a confirmed non-gambler into a large room with 500 slot machines and a bunch of crummy table games in it!

 

For casinos, it just doesn't get any better than the above.

[lanforod]

Uh, if they stay a non-gambler they are still coming out ahead. I've been to a few buffets etc at casinos. I have never gambled in a casino (other than gambling I'll make it to the toilet in time for the 'food' to purge).

[dasmo]

The only gambling that should be resurrected in downtown is gold rush era Chinese style gambling in Fantan alley. As described above, casinos otherwise are horrendous. Selling weed and ice-cream to the tourists is much better thank you! 

[Cassidy]

Uh, if they stay a non-gambler they are still coming out ahead. I've been to a few buffets etc at casinos. I have never gambled in a casino (other than gambling I'll make it to the toilet in time for the 'food' to purge).

I'll  concede ... I guess if you can keep the food "in you" for at least 10 or 15 minutes, and you completely abstain from gambling - you've potentially come out ahead

[spanky123]

Absolutely! As they do in every casino in every city around the world.

One of the great scams perpetrated by casinos the world over is to entice non-gamblers into stepping through their front doors in order to get a cheap meal and/or a free drink.

The non-gambler thinks they're pulling one over on the casino ... which is exactly what the casino wants said non-gambler to keep on believing.

 

Any non-gambler who walks through those front doors for that cheap buffet and/or free drink has played right into the casinos hands ... a dream come true for casinos, in that they've (as per their master plan)managed to entice a confirmed non-gambler into a large room with 500 slot machines and a bunch of crummy table games in it!

 

For casinos, it just doesn't get any better than the above.

 

There are lots of great bars, restaurants, and entertainment in casinos in places like Vegas. They have figured out that not every visitor to a trade show or conference wants to gamble. I think that a casino with the right amenities in Victoria could make sense. Now that we know that casinos are responsible for fetanyl trafficking that isn't going to happen.

[lanforod]

The only gambling that should be resurrected in downtown is gold rush era Chinese style gambling in Fantan alley. As described above, casinos otherwise are horrendous. Selling weed and ice-cream to the tourists is much better thank you! 

 

Sounds like a patented VHF business.

[Cassidy]

....I think that a casino with the right amenities in Victoria could make sense......

Despite this statement being 100% true ... it will never happen. Not because of fentanyl or money laundering, but because the COV local government are fools who are bent on perpetuating a far left agenda on the residents and taxpayers of the COV.

Gambling in a world class facility doesn't now, and never will, fit that agenda.

 

Sadly for those who would hope for something better, and who are also compelled to wager on games of chance, the Elements casino in View Royal will be the only option for years, possibly decades to come.

In the parlance of Las Vegas of the 40's on into the late 60's, the Elements casino is a "Sawdust Joint", the lowest of the low in terms of accouterments for its patrons. 

In the parlance of the rest of the world ... it's a dump.

Edited by Cassidy, 11 December 2018 - 09:06 AM.

[Mike K.]

Not even the money launderers and fentanyl pushers were interested in View Royal.

[Jackerbie]

^ It goes a bit deeper than the COV. You need to look at BCLC and the casino environment in BC in general. Vegas has "world class" establishments because they all have to compete for customers. Elements doesn't have to. And if a second casino ever comes to the CRD, the minimum standard will be set by Elements, and unless the two have different owners, then there's no reason for them to compete. The only differentiation required will be geographic, not quality.

[Cassidy]

There's absolutely nothing perpetrated by the Lottery Corp that would prevent a River Rock level facility being built in Victoria ... well - except for the current position of Council, which is to have absolutely no gambling facility at all in the COV (which was my point).

 

It's all moot though. It will never happen.

[Victoria Watcher]

the reviews online about view royal are quite bad especially about the buffet and the theatre. the theatre just has folding chairs. 

[Cassidy]

the reviews online about view royal are quite bad especially about the buffet and the theatre. the theatre just has folding chairs. 

When the average person gets sold a $100.00 ticket to a "theatre" show, and then winds up at Elements sitting in a folding chair in a chilly, over sized, square meeting room, they're bound to notice that they're not actually in anything remotely resembling a "theatre"!

They're then very likely to post on some forum or entertainment review site that they had been lied to, served lousy food and had a sore ass less than 20 minutes into the "show" they thought they'd be watching while sitting in a comfortable theatre with soft "theatre" seating.

 

It's pretty hard to fool even the average Joe or Jane into thinking a big, square meeting room is actually a theatre. Some might say only an unscrupulous casino operator would try such to fob such an obvious untruth off on an unsuspecting public.

[spanky123]

Caught the tail end of the Mayor's interview on CFAX this morning and it sounds like she has flip flopped again and is now interested in a casino in Victoria if it is run by FN.

 

To be discussed at the council meeting this Thursday.

Edited by spanky123, 14 January 2019 - 08:34 AM.

[Nparker]

Caught the tail end of the Mayor's interview on CFAX this morning and it sounds like she has flip flopped again and is now interested in a casino in Victoria if it is run by FN...

Must be nice to have such flexible principles. I guess a casino is a tool of reconciliation.