You Bet Watching a hockey game recently (I won’t identify my team, I’ll just tell you I won’t be doing any post-season viewing), I was struck by how many times the broadcaster cut away from the action to ads featuring famous athletes and Hollywood stars encouraging me to bet onRead More

The Spectator‘s coverage this spring was varied, to say the least. From Albert Barbusci’s nuclear waste deal, to the workings of the Verschuren Centre to the province’s third wave of COVID with a variety of stops in between, including a feature I count among my all-time favorites — the oneRead More

Reports this week that the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation is considering moving the Halifax casino from its waterfront location must surely have raised a red flag for anyone who remembers that relocating the Sydney casino is a key element of developer Martin Chernin’s plan for the Sydney waterfront. It’s notRead More

One Saturday in May 2015, Albert Barbusci woke up and realized: a) HPDP’s “silk road strategy” needed to include Israel and; b) Casino magnate, Republican megadonor and staunch Israel supporter Sheldon Adelson needed to hook them up with an Israeli sister city and an introduction to the Israeli shipping line,Read More

Editor’s Note: Sydney’s casino turns 25 this summer and to mark its quarter-century, Rob Csernyik has been taking an in-depth look at the promises — and realities — of casino gambling in Cape Breton. In Part III, he focuses on the question of addiction. (Read Part I here and Part IIRead More

Editor’s Note: Sydney’s casino turned 25 this summer and to mark its quarter-century, Rob Csernyik has been taking an in-depth look at the promises — and realities — of casino gambling in Cape Breton. In this fourth and final piece, he contrasts the CBRM with a community (within its ownRead More

Editor’s Note: Sydney’s casino turns 25 this month and to mark its quarter-century, Rob Csernyik takes an in-depth look at the promises — and realities — of casino gambling in Cape Breton. In Part II, he focuses on the casino’s record for charitable contributions and job creation and explores theRead More

ob Csernyik, the Cape Breton-born/New Brunswick-based journalist behind the Spectator‘s casino series, is waiting (patiently) for responses from the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) so he can complete Part III of the series. In the interim, I thought I’d take the opportunity to introduce him to my readers, so IRead More

Editor’s Note: Sydney’s casino turns 25 this week and to mark its quarter-century anniversary, Rob Csernyik takes an in-depth look at the promises — and realities — of casino gambling in Cape Breton. This is Part I.   he walk to the Sydney casino from a cruise ship or waterfrontRead More

Last week, I focused on Orenda Software Solutions, one of “two Cape Breton IT companies” on the receiving end of federal funding announced by Sydney-Victoria MP Jaime Battiste. This week, as promised, I’m taking a look at the other lucky winner, Swarmio Inc, formerly Ubique Networks. Swarmio received a $338,369Read More