The slots at Dresden Raceway will be staying put for now.
That's the word from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), which has selected Gateway Casinos and Entertainment to take over as the new service provider for the North and Southwest Gaming Bundles.
The OLG Slots at Dresden Raceway are included in the Southwest Gaming Bundle.
Under the new 20-year agreement with the OLG, Gateway is required to keep the employees in their current position and geographic location for at least a full year from the time they take over the operation.
The agreement also requires Gateway to provide eligible employees with benefits and a registered pension plan.
All of that is welcome news for the Dresden Agricultural Society (DAS), which currently leases out space for the slots in Dresden.
President Lucille Laprise says the ag society is looking forward to working with Gateway.
"It's good for the DAS and it's good for Dresden as a whole -- we want them to stay," says Laprise. "We're going to be working with them, hopefully in a transition process and so this way we can make it viable and really to their benefit to stay in Dresden."
Laprise says the DAS has been a good neighbour with the slots in the past and expects that good relationship to continue.
"It's a great building, it's really work-friendly with lots of parking and we've got the races come spring and summer and that brings in a lot of people for us and for them," says Laprise. "They've got everything they need then and there and so I don't see why they would have a need to move, we want them to stay right where they are."
As for rumours that the slots were in danger of moving before the new operator was selected, Laprise is quick to shut those down.
"You know, there's always been gossip and that to us is all that is," says Laprise. "We've never heard anything really other than that they were staying here -- we've never been concerned with that issue."
OLG expects Gateway to take over the day-to-day operations in the spring of 2017.