Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation
Government of Ontario Agency
Industry lottery, casinos
Founded May 1975
Headquarters Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto, Ontario
Key people
 Philip Olsson - Chair of the Board of Directors[1]
Products Lotteries, Casinos, Slots, Bingo
Revenue $6.7 billion CAD (2012) [2]
Owner Government of Ontario
Number of employees
 17,850 (2012)[2]
Website www.olg.ca
OLG headquarters in Sault Ste. Marie

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (French: Société des loteries et des jeux de l'Ontario), known for corporate branding purposes simply as OLG since 2006, is a Canadian Crown corporation of the Government of Ontario, Canada. It is responsible for the province's lotteries, charity and Aboriginal casinos, commercial casinos, and slot machines at horse-racing tracks. It was created in April 2000 when the Ontario Lottery Corporation (OLC) was merged with the Ontario Casino Corporation (OCC), established in 1994; prior to 2006, the combined entity was known in short form as the OLGC (or SLJO in French). OLG employs over 8000 individuals throughout Ontario.

OLG's prize centre is located in Toronto, while the corporation's primary headquarters is located in Sault Ste. Marie.

Whereas OLG is responsible for, and operates a variety of gaming services, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) regulates casino gaming. OLG reports through its Board of Directors to the Minister of Finance. From 2003 to 2007 it was under the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal.

History

OLG Prize Centre in Toronto.

The Ontario Lottery Corporation was created in February 1975 under the Ontario Lottery Corporation Act, 1975 (repealed in 1999 and replaced with the current Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation Act). Wintario was the first lottery game offered by the fledgling OLC on April 3, 1975 and the first drawing took place on May 15, 1975. The product was discontinued in late 1996 after awarding over CAD$1.1 billion in winnings.[3]

Modernization

OLG has chosen to modernize as over the past 30 years, demographics have changed, as have people’s shopping patterns. Global gaming options are more accessible — particularly online. At the same time, U.S. visitors have declined. All of these shifts have put the industry and its contribution to the province at risk in the long term. Modernization will enable OLG to provide additional revenues to the Province to help fund the operation of hospitals and other provincial priorities.

As a result of modernization, OLG will:

Modernization will help to create jobs across Ontario and trigger private sector investment. The capital costs of expanding, improving or simply maintaining gaming facilities will no longer be carried by taxpayers. Ontario residents and visitors will have access to more innovative and fun games. In addition, the existing lottery distribution network will be expanded to include multi-lane sales at large retailers, accommodating a broader customer base.[4]

iGaming

As part of modernization efforts OLG is introducing iGaming. OLG will be launching PlayOLG.ca, a new secure website that features fun and exciting games, along with a comprehensive Responsible Gambling program. PlayOLG.ca will offer increased player protections, secure transactions and data privacy, and will require players to register to play.

PlayOLG.ca will offer Ontarians a full range of online gaming options, including:

Future state product releases will include:

OLG is establishing this website in an attempt to protect consumers from offshore internet gaming sites. Offshore gaming sites do not verify the age of the participant, and have no player protection or secure transactions. OLG takes a strong stand against underage gambling and the PlayOLG.ca registration process will include age verification that will help prevent minors from registering an account.[5]

Divisions

OLG has five business divisions:[6]

Lottery products

OLG operates nine draw-style lottery games through retailers across the province.

Jackpot draws

Daily draws

Sports games

Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Max are operated across Canada by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation. The corporation also offers instant scratch games under the brand Instant Games, and sports games under the brands Pro-Line, Point-Spread and Pro-Picks.

Lotto Advance

OLG used to offer a subscription-based lottery service called LOTTO ADVANCE for Lotto 6/49. This service is now discontinued since September 7, 2013.[7]

Casinos

Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort - Facade - At Sundown
Signage at OLG Casino Sault Ste. Marie

OLG owns and manages ten casinos, some of which have private operators:

(* Operated directly by OLG. All others are handled by private operators)

Slots

OLG operates slot machine facilities at 14 racetracks across Ontario. They are located at:

Slots at racetracks generated $300 million annually for the racetracks until 2012 when the program ended.[8]

E-bingo

OLG operates e-bingo centres in Barrie, Peterborough, Kingston and Sudbury. Some games are linked to be played at all four simultaneously.

Age requirements

The minimum age to purchase OLG lottery tickets is 18; however, for patronizing casinos and/or parimutuel facilities in the province, it is 19. (the same for Ontario's drinking age).

Violators who sell OLG lottery tickets to anyone under the age of 18 can face significant fines under the legislation passed in 1997. In addition OLG reserves the right to suspend violators found to have sold OLG lottery tickets to anyone under the age of 18.

Amber Alerts

Since 2005, when an Amber Alert is activated, OLG's 9,000 lottery terminals bears the Amber Alert messages that broadcasts critical information within minutes after a child is abducted. Police issue the Amber Alert when they believe that the child is abducted and is in imminent danger.[9] The Amber Alert messages are also displayed at OLG's Toronto Prize Centre.

Controversies

Retailer fraud

On October 25, 2006, the CBC program The fifth estate aired an investigative report on lottery retailers winning major prizes, focusing on the ordeal of 82-year-old Bob Edmonds. His $250,000 winning Encore ticket was stolen by a convenience store clerk when he went to have his ticket checked in 2001. For the next four years, OLG ignored Edmonds' inquiries after the clerk and her husband were falsely named the rightful winners. Later, when the couple were arrested for fraud, OLG refused to return his winnings, maintaining that it wasn't their responsibility that they had been tricked; in 2004, a judge disagreed, and forced OLG to give Edmonds his money. They did so, on the condition that Edmonds sign a confidentiality agreement, so that he would never tell the press about certain details of the ordeal. Also, the fifth estate uncovered internal OLG memos where several employees admitted they believed Edmonds' story. Immediately following the broadcast, Edmonds received a call from OLG's president, Duncan Brown, who apologized and claimed he was ashamed about how his staff treated Edmonds. OLG later released Edmonds from the confidentiality agreement. He died on April 2, 2007.

In another case, Toronto variety store owner Hafiz Malik had defrauded four school board employees out of their $5.7 million prize. He was arrested after the original ticket owners filed a complaint with police. The OPP seized or froze over $5-million of Malik's assets, including bank accounts, three cars, and a home in Mississauga. OLG has since awarded the rightful winners the prize plus interest.[10]

The report by the fifth estate added that over 200 lottery retailers in Ontario have won major prizes from 1999 to 2006. A statistician featured in the report, Jeff Rosenthal, calculated that the chance that this would occur purely out of luck is one in a "trillion trillion trillion trillion" (or quindecillion).[11] OLG did have a policy on insider wins, but it was rarely enforced during that period. Provincial ombudsman André Marin released a report stating that Ontario store owners and their families claimed about $100 million in lottery wins between 1999 and 2006, with tens of millions of fraudulent claims being ignored by the OLGC.[10]

OLG has since mandated new security measures to protect lottery customers, notably with customer-facing displays when tickets are checked, as well as special music played with a winning ticket. As of January 28, 2008, lottery retailers are required to ensure that tickets are signed. There is a signature box shown on the front of all on-line lottery tickets.

Sign Your Lotto Ticket, As of January 28, 2008, lottery customers are required to sign their lottery tickets.

Lottery ticket recalls

2007 Super Bingo recall

In March 2007, OLG announced that it had recalled over 1,000,000 scratch and win tickets. The "Super Bingo" series of tickets were removed from retail stores after it was announced that a customer made the claim that he could visually tell which tickets were winners. It was the largest recall ever of a lottery ticket in Canada, and were prompted in part from greater media scrutiny regarding ongoing fraud investigations.

2009 Fruit Scratch recall

In January 2009, OLG announced it has recalled over 1,000 scratch and win tickets. The "Fruit Scratch" series of lottery tickets were removed from retail stores after it was discovered that over dozens of lottery tickets were reportedly misprinted. Up to 150 of the misprinted tickets were reportedly purchased at eight stores across Southern Ontario one-week before the recall was issued. OLG has since reached an undisclosed settlement with a 27-year-old Thomas Noftall from Brampton, Ontario, who was mistakenly told that he may have won $135,000 on a misprinted lottery ticket.

Slot machine recall

In February 2007, it was discovered that 87 slot machines at Provincially run casinos were displaying subliminal messages on slot machine screens to players. An image of a winning symbol combination was shown quickly before or during the simulated spinning of the slot machine reels. The manufacturer, Konami, provided a software update for the machines.

Aftermath

In the wake of these controversies, the provincial government ordered Duncan Brown to be relieved of his position as OLG chief on 21 March 2007. This was not public knowledge until two days later, when Brown's dismissal took effect. David Caplan, Ontario's minister responsible for OLG, intended to announce this firing on 26 March following the release of a report on OLG's situation by provincial ombudsman André Marin. Marin criticized the OLG for being more fixated on profits than the integrity of games after a disproportionate number of lottery retailers or their families claimed winning tickets.[12][13]

Executive salary increases during public sector salary freezes

In April 2013, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa publicly addressed the OLG going against the governments motives to curb spending. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ontario-lottery-executives-pay-hikes-are-unacceptable-finance-minister-says/article11639270/

Chair of the Board of Directors

References

  1. ↑ Benzie, Robert. "Kathleen Wynne names new chairs for OLG and LCBO". Retrieved 16 March 2014.
  2. 1 2 "OLG Annual Report 2011-2012" (PDF). OLG. 2012. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  3. ↑ "Ontario Wintario". MSN/Sympatico. 2003. Retrieved 2006-10-06.
  4. ↑ "OLG Modernization". OLG. Retrieved 2014-11-02.
  5. ↑ "iGaming". OLG. Retrieved 2014-11-02.
  6. ↑ "Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation". About the OLGC. Retrieved 2005-06-17.
  7. ↑ "LOTTO ADVANCE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE RETIRED". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Reevely, David (13 October 2016). "Ontario's billion-dollar plan to extricate itself from the horse-racing industry". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  9. ↑ OLG Amber Alert program
  10. 1 2 Windsor Star
  11. ↑ "Luck of the Draw". CBC. 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-25.
  12. ↑ Benzie, Robert; Black, Debra (24 March 2007). "Fired lotto chief `in shock'". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
  13. ↑ "Chief of Ontario lottery corporation dismissed". CBC. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
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