Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG; also Ontario Lottery and Gaming) is a Government of Ontario Crown agency which is responsible for the province's lotteries, charity and Aboriginal casinos, commercial casinos, slot machines at horse-racing tracks. It was created in April 2000 by merging the Ontario Lottery Corporation (OLC), which was established in 1975, and the Ontario Casino Corporation (OCC), established in 1994. OLG employs over 8000 individuals throughout Ontario.
The agency's head office is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Whereas the OLG is responsible for, and operates a variety of gaming services, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) regulates casino gaming. The OLG reports through its Board of Directors to the Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal.
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[edit] History
Wintario was the first lottery game offered by the fledgling OLC in May 1975. The product was discontinued in late 1996 after awarding over CAD 1.1 billion in winnings.[1]
[edit] Divisions
The OLG has five business divisions[2]:
[edit] Lottery Products
The OLG operates 9 draw-style lottery games through retailers across the province[3]:
| Lottery | Start Date | Cost per play | Draw Dates | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lotto 6/49 | June 1982[4] | $2 | Wednesdays & Saturdays | Choose 6 numbers from 1 to 49 |
| Lotto Super 7 | - | $2 | Fridays | Choose 7 numbers from 1 to 47 |
| Ontario 49 | - | 50 cents | Wednesdays & Saturdays | Choose 6 numbers from 1 to 49 |
| Lottario | - | $1 | Saturdays | Choose 6 numbers from 1 to 45 |
| Payday | - | $2 | Thursdays | Choose 4 numbers from 1 to 77 |
| Daily Keno | - | Various | Daily | Choose 2-10 numbers from 1 to 70 |
| Pick 4 | February 4, 2006 | $1 | Daily | Choose 4 digits between 0 and 9 |
| Pick 3 | - | $1 | Daily | Choose 3 digits between 0 and 9 |
| Encore | - | $1 | Daily | Receive a 7-digit number with any above lottery |
Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Super 7 are operated across Canada by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation. The OLG also offers instant scratch games under the brand Instant Games, and sports games under the brands Pro-Line, Point-Spread and Pro-Picks.
[edit] Charity and Aboriginal Casinos
OLG operates six charity casinos in Ontario:
- Brantford Charity Casino
- Casino Sault Ste. Marie
- Great Blue Heron Casino
- Point Edward Charity Casino
- Thousand Islands Charity Casino
- Thunder Bay Charity Casino
[edit] Commercial Casinos
OLG owns and manages four commercial casinos, which have private operators:
[edit] Slots
OLG operates slot machine facilities at 17 racetracks across Ontario.
[edit] Bingo
OLG operates bingo centres in Barrie, Peterborough, Kingston and Sudbury. Some games are linked to be played at all four simultaneously.
[edit] Controversy
On October 25, 2006, the CBC program the fifth estate aired an investigative report on lottery retailers winning major prizes. The report focused on 82-year-old Bob Edmonds whose $250,000 winning Encore ticket was stolen by the clerks of a convenience store when he went to have his ticket checked. The report added that over 200 lottery retailers in Ontario have won major prizes in from 1999 to 2006. A statistician featured in the report calculated that the chance that this would occur purely out of luck is one in a "trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion" (or quindecillion). [5]
[edit] References
- ^ Ontario Wintario. MSN/Sympatico (2003). Retrieved on 2006-10-06.
- ^ Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. About the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. Retrieved on June 17, 2005.
- ^ Lotto Games. OLG (2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-25.
- ^ Toronto Star. Lotto 6/49 Jackpot. Retrieved on Nov 8, 2006.
- ^ Luck of the Draw. CBC (2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-25.
