OLG To Offer Mohawk Gaming Expansion?

Published: March 22, 2012 12:17 pm EDT

It has been reported that officials from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. will be meeting with the Town of Milton in April to discuss the provincial organization's new modernization strategy. Milton officials have reportedly taken the news as a positive sign, and are now beginning to speculate that the town is a desired location for gaming expansion under the OLG's new vision for provincial gaming

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According to a report by Christina Commisso on insidehalton.com, Milton CAO Mario Belvedere said that he perceives the scheduled April meeting with the OLG as a "positive sign."

Bill Mann, director of planning for Milton, also expressed excitement for the possibility of gaming expansion for the town.

“This could allow Mohawk (Racetrack) to expand and allow slots as well as poker and blackjack tables. The revenue coming out of the facility would increase, developing Mohawk into a destination area and further generating revenue to the local municipality and the industry itself,” Mann was quoted as saying in the report, which also stated that Mohawk is the third most profitable gaming site in Ontario, trailing Ajax Downs and Woodbine Racetrack.

Commisso's report also cited the outrage that has come from the local horse-racing industry and Local Councillor Cindy Lunau. The outrage has come due to the OLG and Provincial Liberal Government's desire to decimate the Ontario industry by inexplicably cutting horse racing out of the mutually-beneficial slots-at-racetracks program, which sees the Ontario Government reap $1.1-billion in direct annual revenue each year.

The slots-at-racetracks program has been the foundation for the Ontario horse-racing industry to become the global standard other jurisdictions attempt to equal when they construct their own programs. The slots-at-racetracks program has seen Ontario racetracks concede to host expanded gaming within their walls for a relatively small percentage of the machines' revenues. Those revenues, in turn, have allowed the provincial breeding and racing industry to produce $261-million in annual tax revenue for the government; lead to the employment of 60,000 Ontarians; annually spur $2-billion in economic impact for the province, and fund a myriad of government programs, including health care and education.

“I don’t fault the OLG over what it was asked to do (cost-cut reduce the provincial deficit)," Lunau was quoted as saying in the article. "We as a society have grown to depend on this unofficial voluntary tax, which is gaming, to run our society. The OLG was asked to look at ways to maximize this.

“What I do take issue with is the way it suddenly targeted horse racing and tracks as the bad guys. Do we need to modernize, yes. But we should not throw out the whole horse industry which is one of the few things we can use to keep Nassagaweya green.”

For Trot Insider's complete coverage regarding the fallout and uproar in response to the OLG and Ontario Liberals' treatment of the provincial horse-racing industry, click here.

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