The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is urging the provincial government to step back and take a serious look at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s (OLG) proposal to end the slots at racetracks program.
The recommendation to end the program effective March 31, 2013 was recently adopted by the Ontario government in an effort to improve provincial gaming revenues.
The OLG made its recommendation as part of a modernization plan, an effort to increase revenues. The plan suggests the casino and slot facility modernization and the end of the slots at racetracks funding. The result of the proposed plan is expected to yield an additional $740 million in annual revenue to the province by 2017. Ironically, the OLG included a statement in its own strategic plan that said, “Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.”
In other words, the proposed modernization plan is a gamble. And a very risky gamble for the province to be taking because the OLG does not appear to consider, in any way, the potential cost of those proposed changes – it is only looking at a possible increase in revenue.
The OLG is gambling and the stakes are Ontario’s horse racing industry, rural communities and thousands of small businesses.
The result of OLG’s decision could see the end of racetracks in Ontario, causing the dissolution of a vibrant horse racing and breeding industry. And along with it, the province will lose approximately $2 billion in economic activity, more than 30,000 full-time jobs and valuable businesses that directly support Ontario’s agricultural infrastructure.
It appears OLG has failed to consider the impact its decision will have on Ontario’s horse racing industry and the jobs it sustains across Ontario. The industry currently works with OLG in a mutually beneficial relationship, the slots at racetracks program – a revenue sharing agreement. The racing industry is OLG’s most profitable partner. Can OLG actually increase revenues while losing its best partner?
The federation strongly urges the province and the OLG to start working with the Ontario horse racing industry to build on the productive and profitable relationship they have already enjoyed over the past decade. That partnership can be improved for mutual benefit and will continue to demonstrate its significant and valuable contribution to the Ontario economy and our rural communities.
We simply can’t afford to lose Ontario’s horse racing industry on an OLG long shot.
Mark Wales is president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture
