Ontario Lottery and Gaming

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation

Type	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
Products	Lotteries, Casinos, Slots, Bingo
Revenue	$6.7 billion CAD (2012)
Owner	Government of Ontario
Number of employees	17,850 (2012)
Website	www.olg.ca

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.

The Ontario Lottery Corporation was created in February 1975 under the Ontario Lottery Corporation Act, 1975 (repealed in 1999 and replaced with the current Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation Act).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.

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.