Gananoque, TLTI get casino cash
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The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) has made another regular casino payment to Gananoque and the Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands (TLTI).
On Wednesday, OLG announced that it is issuing the third-quarter non-tax gaming revenue in the amount of $221,262 to both the township and the town, for hosting the Shorelines Casino Thousand Islands.
According to OLG, all gaming sites were open throughout the third quarter, which was from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2021. The casinos operated with public health and workplace safety measures in place.
However, despite capacity restrictions being lifted on Oct. 25, the continued spread of COVID-19 had an impact on gaming revenue, officials said Wednesday.
During the second quarter, OLG issued TLTI and Gananoque both a total of $257,975.
“We are happy that host gaming municipalities received payments this past quarter through Municipality Contribution Agreements,” said Steve Clark, MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, in a prepared statement.
Currently, gaming sites are closed as a result of the new time-limited provincial health measures. Gaming sites were closed to the public on Wednesday, Jan. 5 and the closure is expected to remain in effect until at least Jan. 26.
Gananoque Mayor Ted Lojko said he anticipates that the government will allow casinos to be open at a percentage base, similar to what was done previously, and increase it as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
“Hopefully the casino will open as is,” Lojko said, adding that, as more people resort to online gaming sites at home rather than in-person, “we’ll have to see what the future holds for casinos gaming industry in Ontario.”
“Once public safety restrictions are lifted again, land-based casinos will continue to play a vital role in the economic recovery of our communities,” added Clark.
Despite the amount issued to the town from OLG being less than what has been issued before, it doesn’t affect the budget, said the mayor.
“Our budget projections are based on real numbers; it’s not based on what we got two years ago,” said Lojko.
According to OLG, TLTI and Gananoque have each received more than $30 million in non-tax gaming revenue since June 2002.
OLG makes payments to host communities under the Municipality Contribution Agreements, using a prescribed formula based on a graduated scale of gaming revenue at the hosted site, officials said.
(Jessica Munro is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Brockville Recorder and Times. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.)
