TORONTO, Ont. – The city has decided to wait on the casino debate.They’ve pushed the issue to the mayor’s executive committee which will meet in May.

The debate is about building a casino within Toronto boundaries. One motion is that a casino should not be built at Ontario Place, while another is that a referendum be held before any casino is built. The last referendum in 1997 rejected the idea by 72 per cent.

Councilor Adam Vaughan does not want a casino in Toronto but says he is happy with Wednesday’s outcome.

“I didn’t expect council to take a position today. I was comfortable with it going to executive because I think that the public wants to weigh in on this,” he told 680News.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti said he sees a huge economic upside to building a casino.

“I’ve always supported casinos as a revenue tool for the City of Toronto. In fact, we have them now — they’re called bingos,” Mammoliti told 680News.

However, Councillor James Pasternak said casinos will bring a rise to prostitution and drugs.

“We have numerous other opportunities to raise revenue … we don’t have to get into the gambling business,” said Pasternak.

Mammolitti added that he is glad the matter will now go in front of the executive committee because people really need to know about the benefits.

“Windsor alone has 6,000 employees. Can you image a state of the art casino here in Toronto? I would venture to say that that would probably double,” he explained.

Council also voted to defer the debate on whether a casino should be located at Ontario Place, which Vaughan said he is taking as a victory.

“That tells you right there where council’s opinion lies. There will be no casino on the waterfront. That’s good news. My guess is that at the end of the day there will be no casino in Toronto. Put it somewhere else.”