While it's unclear if Paul Godfrey has been brought in as a move to privatize the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, sentiments issued in his opening address to the media as OLG chairman clearly show an interest in
developing online gambling.
"When you see what's going on in British Columbia, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces ... it's something I would explore," a report in the Toronto Star quotes Godfrey as telling a news conference Friday as he took the helm of OLG, "Money is going out of this province to other provinces as well as offshore sites."
Those comments came as Finance Minister Dwight Duncan named the first new board members to run the beleaguered corporation, including corporate lawyer Dale Lastman, former Onex executive Anthony Melman, tax expert Thomas O'Brien, accountant William Swirsky and Toronto Land Corporation chief executive Shirley Hoy.
"If the government's musings around the potential sell-off of the OLG have any merit, this would certainly be the team to have that thing achieved," New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath told reporters, "I certainly hope that the damage control isn't going to be just a sell-off of the agency."
Premier Dalton McGuinty has stated that Ontario would eventually have to make a decision for or against online gambling and he's "glad the issue has been raised."
To read the full article from The Star, click here.
It all comes down to if you
It all comes down to if you can't beat them join them. The Government sees that other provinces as well as off shore sites are taking their revenues. Wouldnt it be nice to have sports books at the track so we can all just bet one game instead of having to have 3 on a ticket. We all know that there will be the manditory Government take outs but as long as it is not seen as too extreme the dollars will roll in. What does this mean to the racing game? As we have all said the competition is only going to get stronger for the gamblers dollar, horse racing needs to be seen as a good spot to wager, takeouts need to be dramatically reduced and the exposure needs to be increased, if this is not done and as we move forward with more options, good luck to survival.