I am definitely not missing Richard Florida, so I must be missing the point.
So what is the point? Looking ahead at your comments, it seems to me you mostly object to casinos because they are tacky - i.e. bad urban planning. Well, I agree. But lots of people like stuff I consider tacky, and this is a big city, so there is a place to put all that stuff and it won't bother me.
Definitely, a casino at the Ex would not bother me as much as the acres of space there currently wasted on empty parking lots. The parking lots are there, let's not forget, because until 25 years ago people used to enjoy going to the CNE, a tacky but fun source of entertainmment, for 2 weeks a year.
But now they seem to prefer casinos to fall fairs, so why are we wasting money and space on the Ex?