In a time when Ontario is facing a ballooning deficit and growing unemployment numbers, the Provincial Liberal Government is positioning itself to potentially line the pockets of U.S. casino operators and local bingo-hall owners under its utterly illogical gaming modernization plan.
The plan, announced just a few months ago by the Ontario Liberal Party via the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., would see the massively successful slots-at-racetracks program scrapped, figuratively gutting the provincial horse-racing industry at the same time.
On Thursday, June 21 at Woodbine Racetrack, after the post-position draw for the 153rd running of the Queen's Plate, Woodbine Entertainment Group President and CEO Nick Eaves said that if an agreement isn't reached with the Ontario Government to work out some sort of "operating model" Woodbine may have to cease to operate after March 31, 2013.
Conveying the gist of an official WEG release which was issued moments after, Eaves said during a sizable media scrum that WEG's position “shouldn’t be interpreted as a threat," to the Ontario Liberal Government, and that "it should be interpreted as a realistic outcome in the event a program (the slots-at-racetracks program) that has worked as successfully as it has isn’t replaced with something that can support racing in the context of an overall gaming strategy.”
Mainstream provincial media took Eaves' message and ran with it, printing multiple reports on WEG's position on the matter.
The Ontario Liberals have responded, and they have responded in a fashion which, some have said, has gotten extremely old --- purposely characterizing a bilateral economic agreement as a subsidy, and completely disregarding how much of an impact the Ontario horse-racing industry has had on the provincial education and health-care systems.
Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan was unavailable to comment on what Eaves and WEG pronounced about the future of WEG and, essentially, the entire Canadian horse-racing industry. Although he was unavailable for comment, Duncan Spokesman Aly Vitunski was the latest to blurt out the Finance Minister's increasingly irrational response.
"We are committed to the people in the (horse racing) industry, but there comes a point when it's health care and education or horse racing," Vitunski was quoted as saying. "That's our bottom line."
In reality, the bottom line is that the Ontario horse-racing industry (via its 20-per-cent take) annually receives a combined $345-million in slot-machine revenue via the slots-at-racetracks program (the provincial government, meanwhile, annually receives $1.1-billion via it 75-per-cent take). The Ontario horse-racing industry annually sends $261-million back to the Ontario Government in taxes alone.
Do the math.
Three hundred and forty five million dollars minus $261 million works out to $84 million annually. The Ontario Government utilizes that $261-million in direct tax revenue to fund its programs, which includes said education and health care, which the Ontario Liberals have stated are very important.
"It's unfortunate," Vitunski was quoted as saying, in regard to the Ontario Liberals' decision to scrap the slots-at-racetracks program, "but we have to choose health and education."
Considering the $261-million in annual taxes taken in from the Ontario horse-racing industry, the province's racing sector puts its cut of slot-machine revenues to work for the province, big time. The slot-machine revenue that the horse-racing industry rightfully receives helps employ up to 60,000 Ontarians, once full-time, part-time and seasonal positions are all taken into account. Those 60,000 Ontarians, who reinvest mass amounts of capital into both urban and rural centres in the province, leads to roughly $2-billion in annual economic impact within the province, 80 per cent of which is felt in Ontario's vast rural sectors. The Ontario horse-racing industry pays a total of $1.5-billion in wages and salaries each year in the province. The Ontario horse-racing industry is the second largest sub-sector of the agricultural economy in the province with a contribution in excess of wheat, eggs, poultry and hogs in 2010.
Given that glut of logical, confirmed numbers, consider this: the Ontario Liberal Government is willing to walk away from the entire slots-at-racetracks arrangement in favour of potentially lining the pockets of U.S. casino operators and bolstering the apparently-important Ontario bingo-hall industry.
As reported by the Peterborough Examiner, 'Net Win,' part of the Liberals' gaming modernization plan, will bring slots-like pull-tab machines to Ontario bingo halls. The pull-tab machine revenues from bingo halls will be spilt four ways: the bingo hall operators will retain 47 per cent of the revenues; the OLG will scoop up 25 per cent; local charities will get 25 per cent, and the host municipality will get three per cent (remember, under the slots-at-racetracks agreement, the Ontario Government rakes in 75 per cent of the gaming revenue and the Ontario horse-racing industry retains 20 per cent).
Inexplicably, considering the vast and vital economic impact the provincial horse-racing industry has on Ontario, OLG Spokesman Tony Bitonti recently threw his full support behind provincial bingo parlours, saying that the OLG's new role is to “come in and help revitalize the (bingo hall) industry.”
Speaking on behalf of the OLG, Bitonti said this about the Ontario bingo-hall industry: “It’s an industry in decline, but because it serves the charities in the communities, we can’t let this die off.”
Do the math.
Duncan said there are too
Duncan said there are too many racetracks in Ontario.....what does he mean by that?.....by who's standard is he making that statement? Maybe there are too many olg kiosks, using his logic.
Glenn, that is good to know.
Glenn, that is good to know. I never knew V75 was a thought up here. You have to love Gov't run stuff. Only thinking about themselves and not 60,000 hard working Ontario people. The OLG would get a nice cut of the V75 and still people will play their other lotteries. There is lots of room for everyone to get along. So the OLG does not mind money leaving Canada and going to the U.S.?? The gov't might as well try to destroy the CFL so then soccer can grow in Canada.....all of this makes no sense!!! The people at the top never consider the one's who are actually the backbone of what makes Canada a great and USUALLY fair place to live. McGuinty has been a sham from day one, how was he allowed to make it this far all these years? If he was in the U.S. he would be made fun of on the Simpsons and Family Guy on a regular basis. "McGuilty" is what I bet if a fund was put together to uncover his secret agenda.
McGuinty, Duncan, Godfrey and
McGuinty, Duncan, Godfrey and Bitonti - now there's one BRUTAL foursome - it seems that none of these guys know how to think before they speak.
McGuinty hires Drummond (at great expense, no doubt) to tell him how to reduce the deficit - but ignores him and does what he wants anyway - at least as far as the Slots at Race Track Partnership is concerned.
Duncan tells an American breeder that has invested significantly in Ontario that he doesn't want his money because he's taking too much back to the US - but is more than willing to have American companies operate Ontario's Casinos.
Godfrey is focused and overly enthused about building an Iconic Casino on Toronto's Waterfront - but it seems there's no place to put it and few that want it.
Bitonti feels obligated to Revitalizing (bailing out) the Bingo Hall Industry who I would assume may employ a few thousand people (at best) - and will give the "Operators" a lucrative 47% vs the 20% received by Horse Racing.
And they are ALL willing to sacrifice 50 to 60 thousand Horse Racing Industry jobs by cancelling the OLG's most profitable business segment in order to spend the Ontario Taxpayers money to expand and revitalize the OLG's least profitable business segments (Bingo Halls and PRIVATE Casinos)
Even worse, they blatantly lie to the people of Ontario by saying these decisions were made to reduce the deficit and provide more funds for Health Care and Education - I would just love for someone in the Liberal Party or the OLG to logically explain to the people of Ontario - just how that's going to work (?)
Time to try the courts.
Time to try the courts. There is certainly something wrong with this whole scenario. Perhaps it would at least give us time to get more in place. March 2013 certainly is not enough time, nor is 50 million over 3 yrs. That is no help whatsoever. Think there might be a conservative MPP out there who would launch an investigation into this?
I would like to know, who
I would like to know, who voted these jerks back in? Having wagered a buck or two for the last fifty years or so, I would have bet anyone the Liberals were going to get swept out. Boy, was I wrong.......
I don't expect the OLG to
I don't expect the OLG to permit a horse racing lottery to happen, that is why the racetracks have to do it themselves...with the transitional funding perhaps.
Tim the industry has
Tim the industry has attempted to get into a v75 type bet and their biggest competitor the OLG has no interest in a competitor in the lottery business and has crushed any attempts. This government has decided that racing is done and the sooner the money dries up for everyone the sooner the war will begin. Dennis Mills website and mission has motivated my pocketbook despite the fact most of my mares were shipped to New York because I believe that the people in the cities are the only constituents in Ontario that have the potential to get the Liberals attention. When the barracades are put in front of the casinos because there is desperation in the air it will be important that people in the Toronto area have a least some uunderstanding of the issues.
Stop selling out our country.
Stop selling out our country. If there has to be new casinos give them to Canadian business men and tell them they have to hire Canadians only.
In regards to the numbers what exactly is the government going to get in terms of dollars by awarding the new casinos and destroying the slots program ? Is there any information on that ? All I see are numbers related to the successful slots-at-racetracks program.
I CAN NOT see the mathematics
I CAN NOT see the mathematics that Duncan uses. I sincerely believe that the 1 + BILLION that goes into the OLG has been used, not for education &/or Health Care, as it was intended, but used in any other department that needed funding. They have used the principal, "borrow from Peter to pay Paul".& in doing so they have completely lost track of the OLG revenue...coming in thru Slots@Ractrack Program.but they want us, the racing industry to back off so they can regroup and show that the OLG is doing what was intended. And they want the US Casino operators to help. US Casinos are only interested in their own bottom line. Health care for instance has taken such a HUGE hit because of bad decisions that were made by having the wrong person in that key Ministry. Deb Mathews was so far out of the loop she did not even realize what Dr. Chris Mazza was doing. Shame on her !!! She was the BOSS, right!! There goes the funding for health right out the window, and now they want to close the door on this type of thing happening ever again, but at the expense of the agricultural sector. Liberals will throw aside the partnership with the racing world but boast about the partnership with Bingo Halls., who will get 47%. They only have to give over 20% to racing & the partnership that race tracks have with their respective municipality, which has been good for so many municipalities, because getting funding from the province for anything will be a flat out NO.
This situation should not have gone this far except Ms. Horwath was afraid of breaking a promise to the Liberals. The Liberals have broken MORE PROMISES than anyone can remember and all in the name of balancing the books.
Anyone with half a brain
Anyone with half a brain knows the numbers simply don't add up. Somebody's pockets are getting lined here, and if the truth were known, probably the down-payment has been made, and that is the reason McGuinty, Duncan and Godfrey can't (won't) back out of the deal now.
We need a complete investigation and quickly, and certainly not by any Provincial appointed team. That would be hiring Investigators to investigate the ones who sign their paycheques!!!!...... NOT!
This Government hired Drummond to "solve" it's problems by making recommendations, then chose to ignore the recommendations, rather do their own deals, and blame the Drummond Report....How handy is that, again at our expense!
GONE IS WHAT THEY ALL NEED TO BE, AND HORWATH ALONG WITH HER LIBERAL BUDDIES!
Remember folks at the next election, who wants/needs a party or leader, who is so afraid of making a decision, that she simply chooses not to vote. What the hell good is that in making decisions...... ABSOLUTELY NONE!
If you can't take the heat Andrea, then get out of the kitchen. I absolutely believe you have some good ideas, just not the intestinal fortitude it takes to see them through, or get things done. You cave at every meeting with McGuinty & Duncan, but do seem to love the Media attention you have been getting over the last few months. Unfortunately it takes more than that to gain respect.
So Sad for you, but you have lost all credability with Rural Ontario.
I say Tim P is right. As for
I say Tim P is right. As for Aly Vitunski, she's "out to lunch" and just a puppet to Duncan. You want to talk about aiding health care, then as someone very dear to me pointed out, I would like to site the example of Charles Juravinski's multi-million dollar donation to the Hamilton hospital..... all earned thru horse racing. How's that for aiding health care???? We already aid education and health care thru the millions of dollars paid by horse people in taxes and by the profits generated thru the slots. Please Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Duncan..... NO MORE B.S.
In reply to I say Tim P is right. As for by P J Gangle
Add to that, E.P. Taylor's
Add to that, E.P. Taylor's donation of the land to Durham College for education. I'll just bet there are countless other examples one could cite!
I saw a suggestion (worst
I saw a suggestion (worst case scenario) that with the $50 million the gov't is offering to help out with the horse racing industry when they pull the plug and let them sink, the industry should use the $50 mil to design a super software program to create something like the V75 and V64 in Sweden. It is huge and they have millions of dollars being bet each week for the Saturday event. They have a smaller midweek pool too. It is more popular than the lotteries. All the Canadian (Ontario?) tracks form a trustworthy committee to get this going! Sweden has large fields of 12-14 horses so payouts are big so Canada might have to create a V86 (8 races) But I could see a great software program allowing people to place their Saturday bet by 2pm Saturday assuming several tracks will be needed to ensure large fields. Bets can be made in convenience stores, at the track, and online. Programs are free online and maybe 50 cents at the stores and tracks. Minimum bet is 10 cents and quick picks are available. So every Saturday Woodbine would have two races with minimum 12 horses (Thoroughbreds), Mohawk would have two races with 11 or 12 horses(definitely possible), one race from Georgian 10 Horse field,one race from Meadowlands 10 horse field, and borrow a race or two from Churchill Downs. Heck, people play the lottery knowing they only get 50 cents on the dollar basically so the TAKEOUT can be adjusted to make it fair for bettors but also still very profitable for the horse industry. Two big betting nights a week for Canada (also made available to out of country residents) and still have regular cards for most tracks if not all with still attractive purses. He is a link about an article for V75 that I just read.
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/columns/story?columnist=finley_b…
If the gov't is willing to give up on the horse racing industry they should at least allow them to pursue this option......OH WAIT.....that would mean competition for their new U.S. partners who they want to share profits with.....There has to be a crime in there somewhere!!!
In reply to I saw a suggestion (worst by edge1124
V75 - Great idea, Tim. Now
V75 - Great idea, Tim. Now who in our industry has the smarts to pursue this idea further? Jeff Gural??? If anyone can get this done, he can. I sent him a couple of suggestions 1) Quick Pick wagering on the races and 2) Wagering tutorials in layman's terms, on self help terminals at the track, and he responded he liked the ideas, and would think about it. He is very open to any and all suggestions, maybe we can run this by him.
Any takers here in Ontario? Maury Danko, is this beyond your scope?
LOOK I live in Saskatchewan
LOOK I live in Saskatchewan and I even smell a rat or rats in what is going on in Ontario. Part of the reason is that nobody is educating the people in the cities. When I read comments on the CBC website statements such as "how did racing survive before" and "they should be able to again". So lets do some educating. Nobody is doing this correctly, Prior to the slots in 1994 and prior the Horseracing and Bingo parlors were commanding 93% of the total gaming revenue however once Casinos came to fruition that has dropped to 3% of the total gaming revenue. That was the reason for the slots because it was way of helping the industry. It is hard to compete against the government who can change the rules whenever they want at a whim. Get the word out about the past.Ken
Official dumb quote of the
Official dumb quote of the year. "She said the government acknowledges all 17 Ontarios race tracks are unlikely to survive but does not believe the industry will disappear." Aly Vitunski representing Dwight Duncan in Toronto Sun. For months they have falsely claimed six tracks would survive but some spokesman finally tells the truth about the survival rate and then finishes it off with "but the industry will survive." If you cut the head off a chicken it will run around for a few minutes acting like its alive but the spurting blood coming out of its neck is a dead giveaway to an intelligent person that describing it as likely to survive is extremely misinformed or just plain stupid. With the Liberals I have concluded that they are both misinformed and stupid and I hereby nominate Aly Vitunski to be the next Premier of the great province of Dumbtario.
This is finally a strong
This is finally a strong statement about what exactly is going on here. Congratulations to the writer. But you are preaching to the choir on this site. I hope this statement was released to the same mainstream media.
This is absolutely
This is absolutely mathematically crazy. Just on the numbers alone it does not make good sense. Add in the fact of how many jobs will be lost it is baffling. The horse racing industry is a culture, a way of life for many people and a fun past time for others yet they SAY they want to save bingo halls because of the charitable implications?? Why not keep the current system in place and then work on something to improve the bingo halls? Oh wait, probably because that would not allow the Liberals to give the U.S. companies $$$$$. I say take the lead from the great HBO show "The Wire" and follow the paper trail of Duncan, McGuinty and others involved, check cell phone records, wire their phone calls, ask for email records etc. Find ONE incriminating fact in there and it will lead to a collapse I bet.....These guys are an embarrassment to the Canadian Gov't and if the horse racing industry is left to wither away in Canada, then all those other Canadian politicians with power who CAN do something to prevent this should never look in the mirror again!!
This is criminal. Some days
This is criminal. Some days I can't even wrap my head around this. I just don't understand how they are even buying what they are selling here. I mean they must think that Ontarians are pretty dumb. This is tyranny, we are being lead by people who don't believe in democracy. How do we change this? Not just for us but the other innocents who call Ontario home? What's happening here is not right.