Why are Slots closing?

[Hurricane Hank]

as my understanding years ago, that the slots were supplementing the race crowd...as the OJC was not doing well. The slots, along with concert venues brought back the lore of racetracks.

I can see the horse business in trouble as well!

Please don't repeat government rhetoric. There has never been a subsidy.
The tracks allowed the OLG to build on their grounds, and compete with them, for a cut of the profits. 20% went to the track, 5% to the host municipality, and 75% to the province. The whole slots at racetracks was a Conservative project. The Liberals want to grab every dollar they can, regardless of the effects on people'e jobs.
"Subsidy" implies using tax dollars. Racetracks did not receive any money from the tax coffers. The Liberals are simply trying to spin it that way, so that people who don't know any better (the public) won't be disgusted by their recent moves.

 

[sabres990099]

Not a big slot player here, but lot of people i work with win at Seneca, they say slots are too tight in Canada. Border crossing and value of dollar also hurts.

 

[The_Longest_Name_On_TERB_ever]

Maybe more and more people prefer to gamble online.

 

[Keebler Elf]

These border towns had a thriving Bingo industry.

If it was thriving then it should come back.

I dunno but if my revenues dropped by 7/8 then I'd be thinking of shutting down too.

 

[ogibowt]

why the Ontario Govt has made a conscious decision to assassinate horse racing in Ontario is beyond me... a sport that has flourished here for almost a century...why did these 2 humps . Mcguinty and Duncan listen to a soulless beancounter like Drummond, or the smirking, smug , repulsive snakeoil salesman Paul Godfrey...boggles the mind...anyway Perkins, writing in the Toronto Star had it bang on...there is more , class, and integrity on the backstretches of horse tracks than there ever would be at Queen,s Park..

 

[wigglee]

horse racing has hundreds of related enterprises that benefit: feed providers, trainers, vets, transportation.....the money keeps circulating in the economy. What a bunch of idiots at Queens Park.

 

[Keebler Elf]

I don't mind horse racing. I just mind the subsidies for it. If it can't survive on its own then it shouldn't survive. Period.

 

[night ride]

Home gambling (such as Texas Hold-em Poker) have really become popular and would siphon some of the money away as well.

 

[ogibowt]

I don't mind horse racing. I just mind the subsidies for it. If it can't survive on its own then it shouldn't survive. Period.

you are part of the many, who the govt has convinced its not a subsidy....in 1998, harris was hungry for revenues, he relized that casinos and setting up slot parlours was not popular with the general public, so he went where the gamblers are,,race tracks...he said , we put slots in your racetracks, we give you a 25% share of the revunues....it was a partnership, not a subsidy,outside that 25%, not one single penny came out of the govt coffers to "subsidize" horse racing....again Keebler Elf, it never was a subsidy, only a cretin like Duncan painted it that way..

 

[Hurricane Hank]

It's amazing that so many people have an opinion, yet they don't really know what they are talking about.

THERE IS NO SUBSIDY.

There is a partnership as explained by poster ogibowt

 

[KBear]

Noticed an off track betting place in Mississauga is now gone. Wonder if the internet is killing off these businesses where you have to travel to bet, and if the live horse races will be next. Do the race tracks get some kick back from off track internet betting?

 

[Hurricane Hank]

Noticed an off track betting place in Mississauga is now gone. Wonder if the internet is killing off these businesses where you have to travel to bet, and if the live horse races will be next. Do the race tracks get some kick back from off track internet betting?

Racetracks do not get a kickback from internet wagering. You are betting right into the track pool, via the internet. They get exactly what they would get if you were live, at the track.
In reality, internet wagering has increased business for the tracks. That, and having their product sent to the U.S. has increased WEGs handle.