The long-delayed plan to build casinos in Northern Ontario has been delayed yet again.
But Tony Bitonti, a media relations officer with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., said Tuesday the project will eventually move forward, despite repeated delays.
“The northern bundle (request for proposals) is going to happen,” Bitonti said in a voicemail message. “I don't have a date as of yet.”
Announced by government of former Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty in 2012, the OLG's original plan called for an end to the revenue-sharing agreement with Ontario's racetracks in favour of operating standalone casinos in 29 gaming zones across the province.
The goal was to release the request for proposals by the end of 2012, following a multi-stage process in which operators would pre-qualify for a chance to bid on the casino project. The goal was to open in 2013 or 2014 at the latest.
The OLG estimated modernization would add as much as $1.3 billion to the provincial treasury.
The northern gaming zone – which includes Sudbury, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay Kenora – was combined so anyone who wanted to build a casino would have to commit to operating facilities in all of those communities.
However, the political fallout of ending the revenue-sharing agreement with racetracks hurt the governing Liberals, particularly in rural ridings. When Premier Kathleen Wynne came to power in January 2013, her government began to backtrack on the process, and signed deals with racetracks to provide them with transitional funding. Eventually, her government came out with a five-year, $500-million plan to support racetracks, although the province failed to come to an agreement with Sudbury Downs, which closed last spring.
The OLG did sign an agreement with the Downs to continue operating the slots facility at the Chelmsford track, at least until the casino issue was settled.
And as recently as last summer, the OLG said the RFP for the northern gaming bundle would be released in a matter of weeks, not months. But Tuesday, Bitonti said the plan now is to wait for the RFP process to be completed in the eastern gaming bundle before proceeding with plans for Northern Ontario.
“We have the eastern bundle RFP out, (and) we really want that to finish up,” he said. “And we'll take the learnings from that and apply them to the other procurements.”
The tender for the east was released April 25, but has no closing date and there's no schedule in place for when the OLG hopes to complete that process.
In Sudbury, meanwhile, efforts are underway to reopen the Downs next year, through the creation of a non-profit board that would rent the facility from its current owners. There's still about $5 million available for Sudbury over the next five years from the $500-million fund.
The board would expand the lineup at the track to include equestrian and other types of non-racing events, and well as a fall fair. The model being considered in Sudbury was successfully used in Peterborough to revive Kawartha Downs, which, like the Downs, faced closure in 2014.
