Lottery and casino profits are piped directly into the Consolidated Revenue Fund the same as income and sales taxes, and the government relies on gambling money to finance core public services. Yet Ontario’s gambling scheme is a tax in all but name. The corporation generated $2.5 billion for the provincial treasury last year - the province’s largest source of non-tax revenue, as OLG is quick to point out. Pre-pandemic, OLG was a lucrative source of revenue for the Government of Ontario.
The government of Ontario is addicted to gambling money - a hidden tax on the province’s most vulnerable citizens that harms the very people the government has a responsibility to help.
But there’s a more serious problem plaguing Ontario’s gambling industry. On top of this spring’s leadership and layoff controversies, the corporation needed to be put on financial life support by a $500-million government loan when pandemic closures cut off most of its revenue. Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) is down on its luck.
