OLG proposes Redirection of Racetrack Subsidies

I am retouching back on the topic of the OLG Racing debate as it was announced yesterday that the OLG wants to basically remove any and all subsidies to all of the Ontario racetracks and redirect them back to the government as of March 13/2013. Simultaneously they announced the proposal of a new casino to be built in the GTA of Toronto, with no final location chosen yet but could ultimately end up back at woodbine? Basically the government just wants to strip away the subsidies from the racetracks and the thousands of people who are directly and indirectly affected by this decision and leave the slots there for their own benefit and demise. It also calls for an expansion of slot machines beyond racetracks, which threatens the profits of Woodbine Entertainment and other Ontario track operators. On the chopping block is a revenue-sharing agreement with racetracks that gives them a cut of the slot profits, amounting to $345 million a year. The horseracing industry is concerned the move will put thousands of people out of work and has been lobbying against proposals to re-direct the money, contending that the subsidies have spurred investment in breeding and the province's agricultural sector.

I think this is another below the belt manouver that has not been fully thought out by the Ontario government, but this is what you have grown to expect isn't it? The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is betting a new Greater Toronto Area casino will create thousands of new jobs and attract $3 billion in private investments. But they are blind to see that it will take away many more jobs and revenue then what they only hope to create. What exists now is proven and already established, which will only be stripped away by stupidity and greed. Toronto has received nearly $175 million from Woodbine profits. Although the revenue-sharing agreement is on the chopping block, slots won’t necessarily disappear at all racetracks. Overall they are claiming that the strategy should create 2,300 net new jobs and 4,000 service and hospitality sector spinoff positions, said OLG CEO Rod Phillips. However they are not accounting for the greater good and all the jobs that are currently positively affected by the agreements that is or was in place between the OLG and the ractrack subsidy as they like to call it. Overall I think it is a bad decision and we will not be able to determine the end result of this decision, however I'm sure that most would agree to disagree that it is a decision that most will look down upon and fails to show any real strategic thinking and planning, as the Government and OLG claim it to be. Toronto deserves real economic development, not the cheap veneer of it.

The provincial government seems to think it has found a sure winner at long last. But as all gamblers learn, there are no safe bets. Encouraging more Ontarians to part with their hard-earned money is no way to balance the provincial books to the tune of a 16 billion dollar deficit it currently sports.