Radio Host Addresses Slots-At-Racetracks Misconceptions

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Published: February 14, 2012 05:00 pm EST

It may not have come during his scheduled program, but Newstalk 1010 host Ryan Doyle stepped behind the microphone Tuesday morning (February 14) in an attempt to address some of the misinformation that has been thrown about since Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced that cuts could be coming

to the province's slots-at-racetracks program.

In addressing the Economic Club of Canada ahead of Wednesday's release, Duncan stated that the cash-strapped government will review the $345 million allotted to quarter, thoroughbred and harness racing in Ontario each year through the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Commission's slots-at-racetracks partnership.

In reference to the slot-at-racetracks program, Doyle said that people should not accept the term 'subsidy,' which is currently being thrown around, as an accurate description for the multi-million-dollar pact.

"Dwight Duncan, came out and called it a 'subsidy' yesterday," said Doyle, who went on to explain the nature of the revenue sharing system which is the Ontario slots-at-racetracks program.

"They came up with a three-way revenue-sharing system where the OLG (Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation) gets their cut, the municipalities where these tracks are stationed get their cut, and the racetracks themselves and the racing industry itself --- and there are a lot of off-shoots to that; agriculture industry being one of the biggest --- gets 20 per cent … that, to me, is not a subsidy."

To listen to Doyle address the issue during the Tuesday, February 14 edition of Jerry Agar's Newstalk 1010 show, click here (note that the slots discussion starts at 39:45).

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