It is again time for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation to repay its municipalities for hosting its casino properties. This week, the Crown corporation started to send out its second-quarter payments to host communities, including Niagara Falls. The city received a hefty CA$5.3 million for hosting Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara in Q2.
According to the Municipality Contribution Agreement, the Province of Ontario is required to share a portion of its casino revenue with municipalities that host its land-based gaming properties. Payments are determined based on a formula which is consistently applied across all provincial gaming amenities and utilizes a graduate scale of gaming revenue for each location.
Paying Back
This week, the OLG reported that it has started to send out its gambling allocation payments to host communities for the second quarter of 2022. This applies to the period of July 1, 2022, through September 30, 2022. And for that time frame, the City of Niagara Falls have receiver a payment of CA$5,285,233 for hosting Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara.
For the OLG’s current fiscal year from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, the city already received a grand total of CA$11,542,491. And since the launch of the first casino in the area in 1996, the Crown corporation has delivered CA$186,531,021 to the region. The money has come in handy for the municipality as it was reinvested to its local economy.
Peter Bethlenfalvy, minister of Finance for Ontario, said that revenue from the OLG’s Municipality Contribution Agreements supports host communities, and it is used by them to invest in programs and services that benefit everyone, from neighbourhood parks to local festivals. In his words, the payments help boost quality of life and make the province an exciting place to live, work, and play.
For the first quarter of the fiscal 2022-2023 year, the OLG issued a payment of CA$$6,257,258. The payments are quite larger in the current FY, as 2021-2022 was vastly affected by the unprecedented situation and the followed closures of casinos in the province. However, their operations are now back to normal and operate at full capacity.
More Payments are Sent Out
Besides Niagara Falls, the City of Peterborough has also obtained its second quarter payment from the Crown agency. For hosting Shorelines Casino Peterborough, in Q2 the city has been awarded a payment of CA$791,037. This is slightly larger sum, that the Q1 one payment which amounted to over CA$719,930. And thus, totaling over CA$1,510,427 for the current FY.
Cavan Monaghan Township has also received its second-quarter payment from the OLG, which amassed to CA$112,579 for hosting Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs in Fraserville. This allocation is slightly up from its Q1 payment of CA$109,068. Since the gaming location opened in November 1999, the township has bagged CA$61,209,510 in non-tax gaming revenue
Source: “Niagara Falls received $5.3M this quarter for hosting casinos”, ThoroldToday, October 19, 2022
