The concept of a lottery-style game involving the Ontario horse racing industry was pitched to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. this week. The pitch came from the Central Ontario Standardbred Association during regularly-scheduled OLG meetings
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An article by Dave Briggs in yesterday's edition of the Guelph Mercury cites Central Ontario Standardbred Association President Bill O'Donnell as saying that the meeting took place yesterday.
“I think it’s kind of a listening meeting today,” O’Donnell was quoted as saying beforehand. “They were the ones that initiated all of this (the meetings). (OLG Chair) Paul Godfrey, he wants everybody’s input, which is very, very good, I think. We’ll just sit there and listen. I’ll take the smart guys with me.”
O'Donnell was cited as saying that the OLG is in the driver's seat in regard to whether or not a horse racing lottery could move forward.
“It’s entirely up to them, but I would just like to sit down in a room with them and just express my views... We’re ready to go," O’Donnell was quoted as saying. "We’ve been working about it for a couple of weeks.”
(With files from the Guelph Mercury)
If you want to see the best
If you want to see the best way to run a horse lottery, check out the way the Swedes do it. The V75 is not run for one province or a part of a country. It's run for the whole country with every region benefiting. We're so provincial in our thinking. We need a centralized system like Sweden, with multiple distribution points like the Swedes have. Last year on the Elitlopp weekend alone, the Swedes bet $25M (CAD) on the V75 on two sets of seven races each. We need to learn from the Swedes where the bet has been going up steadily for decades.
Larry Resnitzky, Managing Editor, Atlantic Post Calls
This is very promising news.
This is very promising news. A Canadian horse racing lottery could be bigger than Sweden's V75. Congrats to all involved in this initiative - please bring it on as soon as you can.
Dan Mayo
Carp, Ontario