Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation recently issued a request for proposal for up to five companies to bid on the North and Southwest gaming bundles. The operators selected for each bundle would take over existing casino operations and oversee building new gaming facilities.
Operators for the Ottawa and East licenses were selected earlier this year after a two-year-long process. Along with the North and Southwest regions, the four bundles were created in 2012 as part of a modernization initiative for Ontario’s gaming and lottery industry.
The selected operator for the North bundle, which has five gaming zones, would take over OLG’s existing gambling operations in Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Sudbury Downs racetrack, which would become a racino. The operator also would develop and manage new gaming venues in North Bay and Kenora.
In the Southwest gaming bundle with six gaming zones the selected operator would take over existing operations including OLG Slots venues at Western Fair District, Clinton Raceway, Dresden Raceway, Hanover Raceway, Woodstock Raceway and OLG Casino Point Edward.
OLG spokesman Tony Bitonti said the process will take up to 18 months to select the new operators, so winning bidders should be announced in early 2017. Meanwhile, he said, “To OLG, the integrity of the procurement is of utmost importance. Public procurements involve information of a commercially sensitive nature. In order to maintain integrity of the procurement process, details such as the names of the prequalified proponents will not be released while the process is ongoing.”
