Pickering earns $6.1 million in quarterly casino hosting revenue
Published July 19, 2023 at 12:03 pm
The City of Pickering is pocketing more than $6.1 million from Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) today, their share of hosting revenue from the Pickering Casino.
With a deal struck this year to share some of that revenue with the Region of Durham, affordable housing in Durham could be the winner here as well.
The payout is also nearly $2 million more than what OLG awarded to the City in the last quarter (January 1-March 31), which is more good news for Pickering and the Region.
“Host communities support important community programs and services and strengthen their local infrastructure with these gaming revenues,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, Ontario’s Finance Minister and the MP for Pickering-Uxbridge. “These financial supports help fund the vital programs and services that residents can depend on for their future.”
The total payout to Pickering for the first quarter of the fiscal year (April 1-June 30) is $6,126,075. Since the casino opened in July 2021, Pickering has received more than $30.6 million.
The payments to host communities are based on a formula consistently applied across all gaming sites in Ontario using a graduated scale of gaming revenue at the hosted site. The funds help municipalities in economic recovery, infrastructure development and job creation and in the case of Pickering, affordable housing.
The deal with the Region, retroactive to January 1, will see Pickering retain the first $10 million in revenues from OLG and then split the balance evenly with Durham Region, with a cap of $6 million per year.
Durham Region has promised to use some that money to build much-needed affordable housing.
Based on estimates of $16 million in casino payments each year, Durham Region stands to pocket $3 million annually under the arrangement, a number that could climb higher if the $6 million quarterly payouts continue.
Since 1994 host communities have received more than $2 billion in non-tax gaming revenue while casino service providers have invested more than $2 billion in private sector capital across the province in the past eight years alone.
