Elements Casino Victoria — Attraction in View Royal

I have to say that I have issues with this place as a person morally and ethically that are wrong on numerous levels, but also they use spiritual Indigenous symbols on their machines, including the buffalo, which, if they were treating Indigenous people like me with respect would be great. However, being that this is now owned by an Indigenous nation in Nanaimo, I am very alarmed over their lack of honour, integrity and basic respect for my humanity as a potential employee coming on board. Before I go into what happened, I want to acknowledge Yvette, who was loving and wonderful and kind to me when I came in and not fake in any way, but genuine. Thanks Yvette, if you get to read this...I hope you know how sad I am that it did not work out and how wonderful I think you are. Y 1.) When I was interviewed: I came in on my last leg in terms of not being able to find work. I interviewed with someone who went on and on about how I need to give complete loyalty, while expecting none in return. I was told that I would purposely be put at the bottom of the barrel as the new kid on the block, and in some ways I understand that. But when someone has 36 years of work experience and four college degrees, and told you they had been working since they were 14, with a very hard work ethic, and got a 3.9 gpa as many, many, many years in award winning Customer Service, Administrative and other experience, it does not make sense to not be able to legally answer their MINIMUM hours they would work. I understand you all knew I was desperate for work, but let's face it: ME BEING INDIGENOUS IS THE REASON WHY I WAS NOT TREATED WELL, LIKE THE REST OF VICTORIA, AND WORSE, ME POINTING IT OUT WHEN I FELT DISRESPECTED BY YOU WAS THE DEAL BREAKER FOR YOU AS IT IS FOR SO MANY OF US, BUT THE DIFFERENCE IS: I WILL SAY IT AND STAND UP FOR ME AND MY POEPLE. So, you said during the interview that I need to accept that "Some people will not like you being Indigenous. Some people are toxic and as the low person on the totem pole (no pun intended, ha ha) you will have to deal with some abuse and toxic people." I was so desperate for work, so I accepted the job offer. That is what this "beautiful prison" is here. A place that others and bullies people who are different, who demonize them. Who deny them jobs, deny them healthcare. Deny them everything. Deny them dignity. 2.) Then, I was told that I would have to pay $45.00 for the Gaming license. I explained after I got the job that I would have to wait a few days to get the money b/c I have been out of work for that long, and I said I was starting a Go Fund Me. I asked them if that was okay, but did not hear back. I wrote back a few more times. Did not hear back. By the time that Friday rolled around, I did not know if they still wanted me to work for them and I assumed not, due to their lack of response. 3.) When I did get the funds, I wrote back and they said that they waited for time to go by b/c they wanted to give me space. Okay, maybe, but I really think they were hiring someone else and were not going to give me a chance anyway.I had repeatedly told them about how poor we were. 4.)I told them that I will go ahead and get the Certificate for my training, but I wanted to know what my minimum hours were so I could pay a bill or not, and it is ILLEGAL to not tell people so they can plan their lives. How do I know? Well, since you do not think I am smart enough with four college degrees, I have Business Certification in Canadian Human Resources, and I know that legally, you have to tell your workers how many hours they are going to get, or some idea.When I wrote to them and pleaded with them for it, I got a cold, very revealing response, and it was implied that "How dare you" ask.THAT is how you find out someone's character. 5.) I was told during the interview that people would not like me for being Indigenous & that I would have to tolerate it. When I asked for reassurance that I would not be bullied like I am in the rest of Victoria, I GOT NO RESPONSE. I am an activist for Indigenous...

Despite repeated requests from regular players at the casino, they still refuse to open a second poker table. This is despite the fact that an underground game was recently busted in town and as a result, in the last month, there has been a large influx of players to the game. This means that their regular players are now (more than ever) often faced with waiting several hours sitting around before they can play. Of course this is frustrating for the players and simply not a good look for the casino.

Their argument is that when they had two poker tables one of them was empty for half the week. That would not be the case if they promoted the game, and it certainly wouldn't be the case right now, with the increased numbers of players coming to the game - and even if it is the case - what does it matter? There are six tables in the baccarat/blackjack area that are almost always completely unoccupied - and it's no big deal. They could also simply have the second poker table out for the busiest days - Friday to Sunday - and take it in otherwise.

The baccarat players are able to request and get a baccarat game at any time of the week. Why can't this courtesy also be extended to poker players in cases where there are 10+ people on the waiting list, as has been the case on numerous occasions in the last month, and in all likelihood will continue to be the case? It's not a case of there not being enough dealers, because if there are dealers available to deal baccarat at any time it's requested, then those dealers are also available to deal poker whenever there's an increased demand.

The poker table is also positioned at a strange location - right in the middle of the floor, where other customers are constantly coming and going, stopping to watch, milling around and so on. Additionally, it's right next to some very loud slot machines. The bright lights of the ceiling also glare down on the table and can become annoying during long sessions of play. All of these issues would be resolved by moving the poker table(s) into the baccarat/blackjack area, which is currently unoccupied 90% of the time - and there is easily enough room there for two poker tables, two baccarat tables and the two other tables that are already there to exist together without disrupting any existing games. It has been mentioned that the reason poker cannot be moved in there is because a pit person is required to be nearby when the game is running. However, this is never a problem when baccarat runs, so why would it be a problem when poker runs?

They also recently increased the rake from 10% up to $8+$2 in $1/$3 and 10% up to $9+$2 in $2/$5 to 10% to $10+$2 in both games. In terms of the house share of the rake, this is a 25% increase in rake in the $1/$3 game and an 11% increase in the $2/$5 game. What have the players received in return for this increase in rake? Not much, despite the fact that we are collectively paying the casino many thousands of dollars each week in rake for them to run the game. We have raised these issues many times and they continue to fall on deaf ears. It's no way to run a poker game and no way to treat the regular players, who remain loyal to the game despite these numerous issues.

We understand that these decisions are made by people in management positions above those who run the game (and possibly at locations outside of the casino), and that any changes like these are not simple to undertake and take time to be proposed, discussed and decided upon etc. However, as a group, we have endured the current frustrating setup for long enough, and a review is long overdue. Many regulars are dissatisfied with the game and it's a genuine shame because in general the players and the staff all get along very well and this could be a really great and popular poker game if these few small and reasonable changes were made. Elements have the only legal poker game in town and that is an opportunity that should be embraced and maximized rather than ignored and neglected.

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Whoever runs this Casino should be totally Embrassed for the absolutely worst and most pathetic $100 a ticket News Eve Party offered upstairs tonight. We paid $100 a ticket for what exactly?! The food was Disgusting and cold and not enough of it! No seating and no cutlery to eat the gross cold food with.We paid $100 for cold left over Wells food did we?We were served cold tacos, cold pizza, 2 salads, and whatever was on the other side we couldn't even get over there because of the line up and then it was never refilled the hot food after the rush.The room layout couldn't have been any worse with food tables on the side of the room and so dark we couldn't see anything. They were rolling out tables and chairs for people during everyone arriving because they didnt have enough seating to start with.How unprofessional if the Casino sold 200 tickets then have 200 seats before opening the doors! Its not rocket science guys Omg. Have the food ready and hot when the doors open st 9pm. We paid $100 for the worst NEW YEARS Eve Party. This Casino couldnt get their act together tonight and was very embarrassing to watch honestly.We would've been way happier eating downstairs at the Wells restaurant for excatly the same food which is way cheaper and comes out hot at least. I believe the"Party"upstairs was closed after 3hrs. I looked up and was already closed down.So we paid $100 a Ticket for 3 hrs and cold Disgusting food. Whoever organized that room layout it couldn't have been worse than that. Looked like no one organized this party seems to be very lacking in the food and beverage departments.They also closed both bathrooms in the Casino at 2:30am how fun that was.So none of us could use a washroom! What is going here guys honestly? Why do you not have Bathrooms open at a Casino on New Years Eve at 30 mins before closing time?The only people on it tonight were the customer service front desk employees who know what their doing and did their job very well tonight considering the crowd they had to work through all night. Especially the one lady (russian accent) who works regularly at customer service desk she is top notch always and always so efficient. So thank you to the front desk staff tonight. This Casino needs an audit from the massive corporation that owns it because it's by far one of the worst Casinos in Canada I'm sure.This straight up just a very badly run establishment. I could go on for hours how bad this night was here but I'm sure it's clear how unpleasant this was for all of us who attended in my group. What a waste of money and a night coming here. The Band was good but we didnt enjoy paying $100 to hear them because that's all we got for the ticket really. OK sorry..$80 for the band because we got a $20 free play at least thank God for that. We left upstairs hungry because there wasn't enough food upstairs and the Restaurant downstairs had already closed when we tried to go get more food after we knew we weren't getting fed upstairs at all.We also wanted hot edible food not the garbage cold food scraps they were serving us upstairs tonight. The worst New Years Eve Party in Victoria was here upstairs at Elements Casino. Bravo Elements for doing the worst job possible. We should've all have been offered a refund for a fraud New Years Eve party that only offered us nothing but a band and cold left over old...