Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s quarterly casino payments to Peterborough come in handy to the city which uses it to fund important infrastructure projects. For instance, over CA$1.6 million of the casino money from 2022 have been used for the new Quaker Foods City Square in downtown Peterborough, splash pads, as well as the city’s trails and cycling projects.
Every quarter the OLG sends a payment to the city for being a host community to Shorelines Casino Peterborough. Its allocation is determined via a graduated scale of gaming revenue at the location. Since the opening of the gaming hotspot in October 2018, the city has now collected over CA$8,687,987 from the OLG in non-tax gaming revenue.
Making Use of Gaming Funds
For the 2022 fiscal year, the total gaming funds the city received was CA$1,588,620. Last week, Peterborough mayor Jeff Leal met with representatives from OLG and Great Canadian Entertainment, which is the operator for the casino, at Quaker Foods City Square to discuss and celebrate how the gaming payments have been used by the city administration.
According to the municipality, over CA$677,909 from the gambling proceeds were used to fund the construction of the new Quaker Foods City Square. Also, the city used a portion of the revenue to support new splash pads, the construction of the new Canadian Canoe Museum, to support Central Area Community Improvement Plan initiatives, and the expansion of the city’s trails and cycling network.
In addition to that, the city’s administration has also informed that over CA$1.8 million of the gambling proceeds from the Crown corporation will be invested in the city’s urban forest. This will include tree planting and maintaining the health of the community’s urban forest canopy, and this will be done throughout the current calendar year.
OLG’s senior municipal relations manager Kathleen Devine commented that the Crown is pleased to be a major part of Peterborough for more than several years now. She said OLG is also looking forward to further building on the revenue support. Last but not least, she also thanked employees of the casino for making life in Peterborough much better for locals.
Latest Payments and More
At the start of the new year, OLG sent out its third-quarter gaming allocations to Ontario host communities. For the period of October 1 to December 31, 2022, Peterborough received a sum of CA$707,495. It should be also mentioned that for the current fiscal year which ends on March 31, 2023, the city has bagged a hefty CA$2,217,922.
It is expected that over the upcoming quarters, the casino will bring even larger gambling payments, due to the launch of retail sports betting. Back at the end of October 2022, the casino became one of the first in the province to offer in-person sports wagering via a sports betting kiosk. It is located within the existing gaming floor of the casino at The Parkway and Crawford Drive
Source: “$1.6 million share of 2022 gaming revenues helped City of Peterborough pay for new city square and other projects” KawarthaNOW, February 10, 2023
