I have been told by two former directors of the Gaming Control Branch that prior to 1986 when the Minister reduced the maximum bet from $5 to $2 that there had been 30 or 32 casino supply companies operating. The reduced bet made the operations more or less unprofitable and only about 7 or 8 companies continued in business. When the maximum was raised the acting Director would not allow those companies which were inactive to resume business. This effectively puts an end date of 1986 on 3/4's of the early casinos. I have been trying to get a list of the 30 to 32 companies and the current Gaming Control people have said that they will look for the information for me. But I don't expect a quick response. Also an earlier Director of the branch wouldn't let the casinos have permanent locations. They were limited to operating for 3 days in a location, so they could be called "floating casinos". This made them very small. The woman who set up Great Canadian's Operation in Kamloops told me that she asked for and got permission to stay in one spot because of the limited number of suitable locations available in the city. Later, El Hintz, the acting Director let the companies establish permanent locations. This would be c. 1987. One other interesting point, was that Registrar of Companies co-operated with the Gaming Control Branch so that newly incorporated casino supply companies had to have permission from the Control Branch to use a name. The word "casino" by itself was not allowed, which is why we usually see "Casino Supply" or "Casino Management" names.

I have also been told, by one of the former directors, that there had been 48 licensed card clubs in B.C. in the early 1990's [date uncertain, but between 1992 and 1996] when the government decided to encourage casinos they eliminated the licensed clubs, some of which carried on for quite some time. The clubs were not, therefore, always illegal. But there were always questions about them.

Anyways, there was a very small casino operation in the Strathcona Hotel. The room couldn't have held more than 2 or 3 tables and the casino was moved out when the room was needed by the hotel for storage. The two old time employees that I spoke to a couple of years ago couldn't remember the casino name, nor the exact year it was there. The casino then moved to the Windermere building which is located on Courtney Street around the corner. This building was built about 1909 as a Ladies' Club, the Alexandra Club. The club was gone by 1928 (checked only the occasional year) By 1935 it was the Windemere Hotel and still that in 1944. In 1955 it was the RCMP Headquarters "E" Division. In the early 1970's it held some provincial gov't offices, in the sports and recreation branch.

About 1986, John Cheramy, a postcard dealer today, but then a coin and token dealer, obtained and sold to Ken Palmer (of Hamilton, Ontario) some chips marked CCC, which he claimed stood for Caesar's Canadian Casino. I have never been able to substantiate this claim. He says that Caesar's was in the Windermere, or the Strathcona. They may have been from a floating casino operation, but I have not found any references in the phone books, or city directories.

Abbotsford Sportsmens Club - Abbotsford