Over the past nine months, the Snuneymuxw First Nation in British Columbia has taken steps into casino ownership, purchasing two Great Canadian Entertainment casino resorts in the province.

These deals — Casino Nanaimo in June 2024 and Elements Casino Victoria in September 2024 — were orchestrated by Petroglyph Development Group (PDG), a wholly-owned corporation of the First Nation. They were officially completed in January 2025.

PDG’s CEO Ian Simpson tells Canadian Gaming Business that Snuneymuxw had been “kicking the tires” on some potential gaming acquisitions for the past few years, but the possibility only really materialized in early 2024.

“It really came to a head at the beginning of the year when we engaged with Great Canadian Entertainment on the potential acquisition of Casino Nanaimo, meeting with their senior team and coming to the realization that Casino Nanaimo, right in our backyard, was available,” Simpson says.

The CEO also divulges that Snuneymuxw had been looking at assets elsewhere in B.C. and in other provinces before following up on the Nanaimo deal with the acquisition of Elements Casino Victoria a few months later.

Step into casino ownership a long-term goal

Simpson notes that casino ownership had been the goal for Snuneymuxw and PDG since well before his time. The first real attempt took place around the 1990s with a concerted effort from Snuneymuxw’s leadership back in the day.

Although it didn’t work out at the time, or since, the CEO says gaming culture has always been ingrained within Snuneymuxw.

“Gaming culture is very much part of the fabric of Snuneymuxw.”

“It’s certainly been a goal of previous leadership of Snuneymuxw and our elders to bring a casino under the ownership of Snuneymuxw. Gaming culture is very much part of the fabric of Snuneymuxw and there’s been a strong desire for many decades now for a casino to be owned by our nation.”

Upon the announcement of the Elements acquisition, Simpson said the casino would “unlock unprecedented economic potential for Snuneymuxw and PDG” and pave the way for “transformative growth in Snuneymuxw’s economy and the profits that PDG returns to our Nation”.

The PDG CEO explains that comes down to the profits the casino currently generates from its operations that will be available to grow its own business, including the casino operations, as well as return dividends to the nation.

“It’s going to be a pretty monumental task for us to take on these operations. They are essentially more than double the size of our organization here at PDG once we flip the switch.”

“We have a lot of work between now and then, and a lot of work has gone into it over the last year to be ready for that.”

Simpson adds that the casino acquisitions will produce career opportunities for its members, as the two operations create almost 250 jobs. However, it doesn’t mean that the current staff at the casinos will be replaced.

“One of the main reasons we’ve struck a deal with Great Canadian is the teams that they’ve built at both of these operations. We’re not looking to push anyone out of these jobs. They’ve got incredible teams in place at both of these casinos, they’re very well-oiled machines that are doing an incredible job at what they do.”

PDG CEO has also recruited people with “decades of gaming experience” to assist with the operations, including people who have previously been employed by Great Canadian.

“We’re managing to put together a very capable and experienced team of managers to supplement the incredible management that the operations themselves have, both Casino Nanaimo and Elements,” Simpson notes.

“Great Canadian has a very large admin staff that we’re not acquiring, but they have individual property employees we are acquiring. They have support staff above each individual property that we have coverage for during this transition period for the next couple of years. Beyond that, we’ll have to have those staff in place going forward.”

Reclaiming Native land

As part of the Nanaimo deal, the land on which the casino is located, a part of the Snuneymuxw xwsol’lexwel village, will be returned to the First Nation upon the acquisition’s closing.

It was of utmost importance for the First Nation to reacquire these sites, stresses Simpson.

“It’s important to the nation for us to be reacquiring these sites by whatever means necessary. In this transaction, we’re paying market value for land that was taken from us, which is bittersweet, but we’re really happy to have it brought back to us.

“Over the last five years in particular, we’ve been very aggressive in reacquiring lands along our waterfront here in Snuneymuxw and off-reserve as well and throughout the Nanaimo waterfront. We have a few redevelopment and development projects ongoing in Nanaimo and have been just adding to that portfolio of our real estate assets that were former village sites.”

“Other First Nations can follow that same path for the benefit of their own nations. I’m quite confident we’ll see that in the not-too-distant future.”

Could what happened on Vancouver Island in 2024 between Great Canadian Entertainment and Snuneymuxw be replicated on First Nations land in other parts of Canada?

“Absolutely,” Simpson says. “I think what we’ve done in conjunction with Great Canadian Entertainment and the First Nations Finance Authority is created a pathway that other nations that have strong governments and strong economic development groups could follow down and replicate that same path that we took to acquire other operations.

“Other nations in B.C. and even across Canada can follow that same path that we’ve gone down to acquire these gaming assets for the benefit of their own nations. I’m quite confident we’ll see that in the not-too-distant future.”