Ontario to Move Gambling Online and Build Casino in Downtown Toronto
Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) announced its plans to being selling lottery tickets, close or relocate gaming facilities that are "underperforming," move gambling onto the Internet and build a new casino in the Greater Toronto Area, all of which supposedly would mean $1.3 billion in new revenue annually.
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan made the announcement on Monday.
"With its new business strategy, OLG will increase its revenues by more than $1 billion a year," he said. "It will also create more than 2,300 net new jobs in the gaming industry and nearly 4,000 additional jobs in the hospitality and retail sectors by 2017-18."
OLG chairman Paul Godfrey said the time has finally come for a casino in Toronto after years of bringing up the topic.
"We are prepared to move forward immediately on discussions with municipal leaders to bring one new world-class gaming entertainment centre to the GTA," he said. "This facility is key to OLG's plans to unlock greater funding for health care and education."
The Toronto casino would account for about 40 per cent of the $1.3 billion.
It wouldn’t be gambling without some form of opposition, however.
Toronto Coun. Adam Vaughan, appearing on CBC's Ontario Today, warned of the dangers that come with legalized gambling.
"The impact that urban casinos have on neighbourhoods and communities that surround them are pretty close to devastating," Vaughan said.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
