OLG selects Woodbine casino operator
The Ontario gaming corporation selected the operator to run its casinos in the Greater Toronto Area.
Canada.- The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp (OLG) selected Great Canadian Gaming Corp to be the new owner of its slots at Woodbine, Ajax Downs and the Great Blue Heron Casino located in the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.
As the OLG reported, the two companies will have the exclusive right to control the casinos for approximately 22 years. As Canadian business revealed, the three locations combined offer more than 4k slot machines and 60 table games, with 2200 people employed. Great Canadian is set to own a 49 percent of the stake in the partnership, Brookfield the same amount and Clairvest Group Inc a two percent interest. After the announcement late yesterday, Great Canadian shares increased by 14.3 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange, whilst Brookfield experienced a 3.4 rise as well.
With the new agreement, Great Canadian now owns 22 gaming properties, 14 of them casinos, four racetrack casinos, one commercial bingo hall, three community gaming centres and resort hotels in Richmond BC and Monston NB, the news outlet said.
On the other hand, the union that represents 400 workers at the Woodbine Slots, Local 533, expressed its concerns regarding the private companies, as the negotiations were “done in secret.”
“We have been locked out for three weeks by the OLG and this was our first day back at work and we were greeted with news that changes our futures and that of the province’s, too. Premier (Kathleen) Wynne not only threw us workers under the bus but she did the same to the Ontario taxpayer. Why was something so big, so important, not debated? Why are we not privy to who the highest bidder was?,” said union president Theo Lagakos, Toronto Sun cited. “These bundle agreements are set up so you can only have McDonald’s in Toronto selling hamburgers, Harvey’s in Niagara and Burger King in Ottawa. It’s hardly creating a competitive environment that way. It could also cannibalize other casinos.”
