The Woodbine Entertainment Group's highly respected and influential chairman, David Willmot, has broken his silence in regard to the Ontario Liberals' attack on the horse-racing industry
. “[The slots-at-racetracks program] was always about government revenue. It is a bilateral, commercial contract agreement that has made the province some $15 billion since its inception.”
Willmot's comments have come via an article by Jennifer Morrison in the Toronto Star. In it, Willmot referred to the Ontario Liberals' baseless attack on the Ontario horse-racing industry as "reckless." He also highlighted how the Liberals' bombshell on the provincial racing industry has had an immediate negative impact on the province's breeding sector.
“All we have seen is a confounding, vociferous attack with no details on what the government plans to do,” Willmot told Morrison. “If they have specifics (on plans for a change to the slot program) they better tell us soon because there is already a loss of economy coming.”
Willmot, owner of the highly-regarded thoroughbred breeding operation Kinghaven Farms, also took the opportunity to address Don Drummond's ignorant and gross undervaluing of the Ontario horse-racing industry, which is widely known as the model other worldwide jurisdictions attempt to base their own racing programs on.
“Drummond used the terms ‘value for money’ in his report, and I would suggest this [the slots-at-racetracks program] is easily one of the best values for money of all the contracts the government has.”
In regard to the dynamics of the slots-at-racetracks program, which was struck with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. in the late 1990s, Willmot, who was key in the process, told Morrison, “We based the deal on the notion that horse racing would get the same commission on a dollar bet on a slot machine as it would on horse racing and that the revenue impact on breeding and racing would be neutral. If the size of the revenue pie got bigger, that would be great and that is what happened.”
(With files from the Toronto Star)
For Trot Insider's complete coverage regarding the fallout and uproar in response to the Ontario Liberals' Drummond Report, click here.
Alan Fair When will the
Alan Fair
When will the Minister of Agriculture, also known as, Ted McMeekin,whose riding includes Flamboro Downs, let us know his opinion?
David, good to see you
David, good to see you extend your energy and help the Horse Families. I don't think that McGuinty knows what he is doing. First ehealth, then ORNGE (25 million missing--OPP are trying to find it. )
Now this problem of the Liberals beating up on the Slots and people related to the Horse Racing Industry.
Your presence and remarks are appreciated. Hope Kinghaven wins some nice stakes this summer.
I wonder if it would help if Dalton and Duncan were to tuck into some good ribs at the 3rd floor at WO. It might wake them up, because they are making a lot of mistakes that will run this Province into the ground even more.
Sue Leslie is doing this battle proud--she has been working night and day.
Hats off to Mr. Willmot. We
Hats off to Mr. Willmot. We need more people with his kind of influence to speak out. The government appears to have little regard for most horse people - especially the standardbred sector. Funny how Mr. Duncan just this past January used the words "partnership" and "sharing of gaming revenues" and now we are getting government handouts in the form of "subsidies". How did things change in such a short time? How can the 23 host municipalities make up their share? How can the government afford to put so many people out of work? There must be more money in the coffers than Mr. Duncan knows about if he really thinks that destroying this revenue-sharing agreement is economically feasible.
This taken from the OLG site:
OLG DISTRIBUTES $18 MILLION TO 23 HOST COMMUNITIES
January 20, 2012
OLG today issued more than $18 million in third-quarter non-tax gaming revenue payments to 23 municipalities that host OLG Casinos and OLG Slots-at-racetrack facilities. To date, OLG has distributed $815 million to these host municipalities.
Third-quarter payments were issued to communities hosting OLG gaming sites for their share of gross slots revenue (October to December 2011). Payments are made on a quarterly basis according to OLG’s fiscal year, which runs from April to March.
“The partnership between OLG gaming sites and the 23 host communities continues to provide considerable advantages to people across Ontario,” said Dwight Duncan, Minister of Finance. “Municipalities are enabled to make improvements to infrastructure and community programs by the sharing of gaming revenues, while the sites themselves create employment opportunities and stimulate tourism within our province.”
Each municipality hosting an OLG Casino or an OLG Slots-at-racetrack facility receives five per cent of the gaming facility’s gross slot machine revenue from the first 450 slot machines and two per cent from any additional machines over that number. Funds are used at the discretion of the municipality.
Tracks and their horse people also share the revenue generated by the slots program, with 20 per cent of gross slot machine revenue split evenly between the two groups. Since the launch of the program in 1998, more than $3.67 billion has been shared between racetrack owners and their horse people.
In 2011/2012, the province will allocate $120 million in gaming revenue to support charities through the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF).
Every year, the Government of Ontario allocates two per cent of gross revenue from slot machines at OLG Casinos and OLG Slots-at-racetrack facilities to the province’s problem gambling program for research, treatment and prevention programs. The amount for fiscal 2011/2012 is estimated at $41 million.
OLG is a provincial agency responsible for province-wide lottery games and gaming facilities. Since 1975, OLG lotteries, Casinos, Slots, and Resort Casinos have generated more than $34 billion for the benefit of the Province of Ontario. Gaming proceeds support Ontario's hospitals, amateur sport, recreational and cultural activities, communities, provincial priority programs such as health care and education, and local and provincial charities and non-profit organizations through the Ontario Trillium Foundation.