“We knew OLG was looking to expand its land-base gaming. Because we are the most profitable partner OLG has --- we return more than $1 billion a year --- we foolishly thought they would look to us as a partner to expand, so that the horse-racing industry would thrive and the rural community would thrive, and that they would take this partnership and make it even bigger and better.”
Those are the words of Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association President Sue Leslie, who on Monday, March 12 was again blindsided along with the rest of the provincial horse-racing industry when the Ontario Liberal Government announced that it has given the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation the green light to leave the provincial horse-racing industry, its most valuable and arguably important partner, in the dust.
Leslie's comments come via an article by Arron Pickard on northernlife.ca.
“(OLG has) a proven (slots-at-racetracks) program that generates more than $1-billion in revenue per year, and that's what they decide to cancel --- it doesn't make sense,” Leslie was quoted as saying.
She also said, “but we are going to do everything we can to convince them this is a huge mistake. When they talk about creating 2,400 new jobs, it also means 60,000 jobs lost, 80 per cent of which are in the rural community.”
(With files from northernlife.ca)
For Trot Insider's complete coverage regarding the fallout and uproar in response to the Ontario Liberals' Drummond Report, click here.