SIGA could give the green light to a new casino in North Battleford within this fiscal year.

Zane Hansen made that statement during a speech to the Rotary Club of the Battlefords on Monday.

“I put that out as a target for us — so we have a number of parties to work with in bringing that together, even just beyond our immediate environment here.”

Hansen says a decision has not yet been made on what should happen with the existing casino buildings, once the new one has been built.

“You know, the best fix would be a new facility and the features you can build in that way — but it is very high in our radar.”

Hansen was asked if anything would be done to create better non-smoking areas in the casino.

He said some work on that front has been done, but it would likely be too costly to do major renovations and it would make better sense to do that in a new casino.

Hansen said the future of the old building will be determined once the new facility has been constructed.