{"id":525898,"date":"2026-03-10T03:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T03:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/525898\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T03:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T03:10:09","slug":"elements-casino-surrey-sold-to-semiahmoo-first-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/525898\/","title":{"rendered":"Elements Casino Surrey sold to Semiahmoo First Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 2 minutes<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p>The Semiahmoo First Nation has announced it will acquire Elements Casino Surrey from operator Great Canadian Entertainment, pending regulatory approval. <\/p>\n<p>It is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/tsleil-waututh-hastings-racecourse-1.7554815\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the eighth casino<\/a> in southwest B.C. that Great Canadian has sold to a First Nation in the last two years.<\/p>\n<p>Elements Casino Surrey is adjacent to the Fraser Downs racetrack, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/fraser-downs-closure-shocks-b-c-horse-racing-community-1.7611735\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ceased racing operations<\/a> last August, even as the casino remained open.<\/p>\n<p>Great Canadian said in a joint statement with Semiahmoo First Nation that it would provide a year of transition services for the nation&#8217;s SE-MI-AH-MU Development Corporation as it works to close the deal.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Semiahmoo First Nation Chief Harley Chappell in Surrey, B.C. He is an Indigenous man wearing a suit and a straw hat.\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773112209_561_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.530454042081949\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/>Semiahmoo First Nation Chief Harley Chappell, seen here in June 2024, said the new venture would create meaningful benefits for the nation&#8217;s people. (CBC)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This acquisition represents an important step forward in strengthening economic opportunity for Semiahmoo First Nation and reaffirming our presence within our traditional territory as a strong and capable business entity,&#8221; Semiahmoo Chief Harley Chappell said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The First Nation&#8217;s traditional territories are along the Semiahmoo Bay, and include parts of Surrey, White Rock and even northwestern parts of Washington state in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Elements Casino has 500 slot machines, according to Great Canadian.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the proposed acquisition of the Surrey casino, Great Canadian had announced the Vancouver Island-based Snuneymuxw First Nation will purchase the Great Canadian Casino Vancouver in Coquitlam <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/great-canadian-casino-vancouver-coquitlam-sale-9.7023947\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">in December<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/greatcanadian.com\/news\/tselxweyeqw-acquisition-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">month before that<\/a>, the casino operator had announced Elements Casino Chilliwack would be sold to the Ts\u2019elxw\u00e9yeqw Tribe, which consists of seven First Nation communities in the Chilliwack area.<\/p>\n<p>Elements Casino Surrey isn&#8217;t the only racetrack-adjacent casino that Great Canadian has moved to sell in the last year \u2014 with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation announcing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/tsleil-waututh-hastings-racecourse-1.7554815\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">its intended acquisition<\/a> of the Hastings Racecourse Casino last June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":{"0":"post-525898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-surrey","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-surrey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}