In April of this year, Ontario’s Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, released her report on the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s Modernization Plan. The report was prepared and made public in response to motions passed by the legislature’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
The report is a sobering read for OLG, for the government, and for anyone interested in gaming in Ontario. The report suggests that OLG’s decision-making and plans were unrealistic, short-sighted, and subject to unstable leadership and oversight. The key question coming out of it isn’t, however, what went wrong. It’s where does OLG go from here?
More…
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) announced this past Friday that it has selected a vendor to be its online gaming services provider through PlayOLG.ca. Spielo G2 won the contract. The first phase of the online rollout for PlayOLG will include lottery (e.g., Lotto 6/49) and unspecified gaming offerings. Subsequent rollout phases are to include bingo, sportsbetting (perhaps single sports wagering if Bill C-290 passes?), Internet poker, and “other new products.” Ontarians are supposed to be able to use PlayOLG.ca by late 2013.
(We shall see. Ontario’s Auditor General is reviewing OLG’s modernization plan at the behest of a provincial legislative committee. That review is to include the OLG’s online gaming rollout. Rod Phillips, OLG’s president and CEO, tweeted on Thursday that its modernization and procurement processes are to “continue, no changes,” but the Auditor General’s probe may compel major alterations to the current plans.)
More…
