OLG To Meet With Hanover Thursday

Published: October 9, 2012 03:15 pm EDT

It has been reported that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. will be conducting negotiations with representatives from Hanover Raceway on Thursday (October 11) in regard to extending the lease on the track's slot-machine gaming area.

The news comes courtesy of an article by Bill Walker on owensoundsuntimes.com, which contains comments from the track's general manager, Gord Dougan.

Dougan has told Trot Insider that the opening lease offer from the OLG came in at a dollar per square foot, which, according to Dougan, isn’t enough to cover operating costs, but he did explain that the agreement would be a 'net-net' deal. Dougan told Trot Insider that the net-net deal would include all operating costs, but that doesn't include racing.

Dougan also discussed the topic of live race dates for 2013, but gave absolutely no clarity on the situation due to the fact that everything is up in the air due to the mess the OLG and minority Liberal government have made of the provincial horse-racing industry.

“I can’t really plan for race dates until I know that I have funding for them,” Dougan was quoted as saying.

“Obviously we want to have 30 dates but we need the funding for them. There are 200 to 400 horse people in the area who are (in limbo) until we know. It impacts the entire community and the entire economy. They can’t spend money they’re not going to have.”

Dougan also noted that he believed attendance at the races was down close to 10 per cent this season, due in part to bad weather post heat wave and the massive uncertainty in the industry.

(With files from owensoundsuntimes.com)

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