The groundbreaking ceremony marks the start of an expansion at Saskatchewan’s Northern Lights Casino. (Image: Courtesy of Northern Light Casino)

A special ceremony took place in Saskatchewan, Canada on Wednesday to mark the start of a casino destination project destined to add a further 31,000 sq ft to the region’s Northern Lights Casino.

Opened on an urban reserve owned by the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in 1996, the unassuming property already has a 42,000 sq ft casino destination hosting a selection of 590 slots as well as eleven gaming tables with blackjack and poker entertainment. The facility operated by the non-profit Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) sits next to the 111-room Days Inn & Conference Centre Prince Albert and also features a 100-seat restaurant, a smoking room, and a bar.

Important Increase

The President and Chief Executive Officer for SIGA, Zane Hansen, told SaskNow work to enlarge Northern Lights Casino’s gaming floor is to begin next week and could take as long as two years to complete. This expansion was planned over five years ago and will push the venue’s total footprint up to approximately 73,000 sq ft while simultaneously resulting in more space for its back-of-house operations.

“The 31,000 sq ft expansion will be for public-facing and our back-of-house areas,” Hansen said. “It will be 23,000 to 24,000 sq ft on the floor here and a fair bit of that will be a food and beverage footprint that’s much bigger.”

Hansen disclosed this is the first expansion for Northern Lights Casino since the addition of the facility’s 4,500 sq ft smoking room in 2011. He furthermore declared the venue is one of the busiest of his organization’s seven Saskatchewan casinos but ‘has outgrown its current operational footprint’.

“We can expand out the gaming floor, as you can see just how crowded it is,” Hansen said. “We want to open it up a bit and then have lots of back-of-house storage warehouses because casinos need a lot of space that way.”

Improved Impression 

Northern Lights Casino is to additionally see its exterior and interior facades undergo ‘a major refresh’ themed around its indigenous roots alongside the natural phenomena for which it is named, added Hansen.

“This expansion will increase the casino’s capacity to better serve our customers and the city of Prince Albert,” Hansen said. “

The region and the entire province will enjoy this enhanced tourism destination and benefit from the increased economic activity the expanded casino will bring.” 

Continuing Commitment 

Angela Isbister is the GM for the 28-year-old Northern Lights Casino, and she stated the coming enlargement is to help the area’s numerous sporting groups, cultural events, and community organizations.

“A few recent examples of community support by Northern Lights Casino and SIGA’s Community Investments Program include the Tony Cote First Nations Summer Games in La Ronge, the WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup in Prince Albert, the PAGC Fine Arts Festival and a $25,000 donation to the Prince Albert Food Bank,” Isbister said.

Isbister assured punters that everyday Northern Lights Casino operations are to remain unaffected by the coming work. She finished by divulging the property is expanding with its patrons in mind so as to offer 'more space for our customers to walk around in and move around’.

“More floor space, a bigger restaurant, and a bigger smoking room—they're going to love it,” Isbister said.