Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation recently announced Ontario Gaming GTA, a partnership of Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, one Canada’s largest casino operators, and Brookfield Business Partners will take over operations at OLG casinos and thousands of slot machines in the Greater Toronto Area under a 22-year contract. The privatization deal includes OLG Slots at Woodbine, OLG Slots at Ajax Downs and the Great Blue Heron Casino located in the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation. Malaysia’s Genting Group and U.S.-based Caesars Entertainment also submitted bids.
Great Canadian will operate the gaming facilities and hold a 49 percent stake in the partnership; Brookfield also will have a 49 percent stake; and Clairvest Group Inc. will hold a 2 per cent interest. Great Canadian will earn a minimum of $72 million annually for the 22-year deal, as well as up to 70 per cent of gambling revenue, according to the OLG. The company will begin collecting money only when the province has collected a certain level of revenue; the OLG has not revealed that threshold.
Previously Great Canadian purchased from the OLG the Casino Thousand Islands and slots at Kawartha Downs for $46.9 million. The company also manages horseracing at Flamboro Downs and Georgian Downs. Great Canadian has 22 gaming properties including 14 casinos, four racetrack casinos, three community gaming centers, one commercial bingo hall and resort hotels in Richmond, British Columbia and Moncton, New Brunswick.
The OLG’s properties in the GTA earned nearly $1 billion in revenue last year. However, OLG has stated it considers the Toronto market underserved. The sale would allow a private operator to rebuild the three sites as full-fledged casinos and add a fourth gambling establishment, with municipal approvals.
Located at the north end of the city near Canada’s busiest airport, Toronto Pearson International, Woodbine is considered the top prizes. Great Canadian could add thousands of slot machines and gambling tables there.
Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates said OLG’s announcement was “tough news for us” since “70 per cent of the business for the Niagara casinos today come from the GTA.”
Niagara Falls Tourism Chairman Wayne Thomson added, “It was only a matter of time. I believe the people of Toronto did not want it in the downtown area, which would have created a black hole, and all the existing businesses would have suffered as a result of that. So that’s why it was spun out to the racetrack. It’s going to be a major casino, a major entertainment center and I wouldn’t be surprised if you end up with a convention center and retail area all combined with the same development.”
He continued, “But, you know, thank God, we have the falls here, the wine country and all kinds of great other attractions and amenities that make people from Toronto want to get out of Toronto, and come and enjoy a different atmosphere.”
