The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) has released their industry performance results for the second quarter of the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

The executive summary is as follows:

• In the first six months of Fiscal Year 2017-18 (April 1-September 30, 2017), gross wagering on Ontario races increased by 5.9% relative to the same period the prior year, largely driven by growth in the Thoroughbred handle.

▪ The volume of betting tickets sold live, at racetracks across Ontario, saw a decline (-3.7%) compared to the previous year, mostly driven by a notable reduction for Thoroughbreds (-5.2%). When normalizing for the number of races, the count of tickets per race shows a relatively flat trend.

▪ The Ontario horse racing industry continues to experience a horse supply shortage as demonstrated by a reduced number of unique starters (-3.2%) relative to Fiscal Year 2016-17. Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds contributed to the bulk of this unfavourable variance partially offset by a slight increase for Quarter Horses.

The complete report can be found below, or via this link.

More results will be made available by OLG officials as the fiscal year progresses.