Shark Club eating into First Nations gaming profits, says chief

A Manitoba First Nation leader is calling foul on the Shark Club, accusing the companies behindthe downtown Winnipeg sportsbar and gaming centre of taking a bite out of gaming profits for aboriginal communities.

St. Theresa Point Chief David McDougall says First Nations gaming groups had been in talks several years ago to build a casino in Winnipeg, but he saidthe idea was shot down by the provincial government.

• Premier Greg Selinger gets earful from First Nations leaders

"Years ago we were saying we had an interest in the Radisson Hotel, and then we had gone forward with a resolution," McDougall said at the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs' annual general meeting Wednesday.

"I don't know how far it went, but I know we were shut down even before we got out of the starting gates saying the market in Winnipeg is saturated."

McDougall said it's not fair that the application to open the Shark Club, located across the street from the MTS Centre, was then given the green light.

"As soon as there was a proposal being done by whomever, True North or whatever, then they accommodated and they set up the Shark Club right in the facility where we wanted ours," he said.

The Shark Club officially opened in 2013.

Casino finances, transparency and revenue sharing formed part of Wednesday's agenda at the AMC's annual general assembly, which is being held at the South Beach Casino in theBrokenhead Ojibway Nation north of Winnipeg.