Premier Wynne defends decision to cancel OLG selloff
Scratching the sale of the provincial lottery doesn’t mean the government will zap the Hydro One sell-off, says Premier Kathleen Wynne.

thestar.com
By Robert Benzie
Sept. 26, 2016

Scratching the sale of the provincial lottery doesn’t mean the government will zap the Hydro One selloff, says Premier Kathleen Wynne.

In the wake of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s surprise decision to cancel the privatization of its lotto franchise, Wynne defended proceeding with the controversial share offering of the electricity transmission utility.

“We asked Ed Clark and his group to look at the assets in the province and they came back to us with advice,” the premier said, referring to the former TD Bank CEO who recommended selling up to 60 per cent of Hydro One to help bankroll transportation infrastructure.

“So we have followed that advice in terms of broadening the ownership of Hydro One in order to make those investments in transit and roads and bridges across the province,” she said.

“At the same time, OLG was in the process of modernization. That process will continue. They’ve made a decision around that particular aspect in terms of the sale, but there will be other changes that will happen at OLG.”

OLG spokesman Tony Bitonti said the government-owned gambling agency scrapped the sale of its lotto arm because it didn’t make good business sense.

“The original idea to procure was to see if we could do better and earn more money for the province by going with a third party to run the entire lottery business. The answer was no,” said Bitonti.

“OLG’s lottery business is already successful. Last year was a record year with sales of $3.8 billion. The information we received was that engaging a third party to run the entire lottery business would not lead to greater value for the province,” he said.

However, Bitonti said the two-year bidding process “provided us with substantial (insight) from the industry that will inform our next steps as we develop an adjusted approach to lottery modernization.”

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown welcomed OLG’s move.

“I’m glad they’ve backed off. I hope this sets a precedent, actually, for Hydro One,” said Brown, who opposes the utility’s privatization.

“If there’s ever been a reason to back down it’s on Hydro One,” he said.

NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh (Bramalea-Gore-Malton) wondered if the Liberals have “finally realized that Ontarians did not vote for privatization.”

“People are hopeful now that with the government’s intention to . . . stop the privatization of OLG, they might actually stop the sale of Hydro One,” said Singh.

“Privatizing OLG is a bad idea. The people of this province did not vote for it. Privatizing Hydro One is an even worse idea. The people didn’t vote for it, but they don’t have a choice. They have to turn on the lights and they don’t want their public system privatized,” he said.

Queen’s Park had hoped to reap a big windfall for a business than runs Lotto 6/49 and other games, but the international auction failed to generate much interest.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan - which owns Camelot Group, one of the world’s biggest operators with lotteries in the U.K. and Ireland - and GTEH-Scientific Games, a U.S.-Italian joint venture, were the only qualified bidders after Rogers Communications abandoned its first lotto gamble.

Now, OLG will develop its own modernization strategy with smartphone sales to attract younger players.