Decision to keep OLG public will enhance jobs project, says Tiberi

Ontario Lottery and Gaming’s cancellation of plans to privatize is good news for the city, local leaders say.

In October, the city laid out $750,000 over the next three years to the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre in an effort to create 200 lottery sector jobs.

The idea, in part, was to create a lottery and gaming industry in the Sault in an effort to entice any potential private sector buyer of OLG to maintain its lottery jobs in the city.

Leo Tiberi, executive lead for the Sault Ste. Marie Lottery and Gaming Pursuit Project, said today’s announcement will ensure the long-term growth of the lottery sector in the city.

The announcement doesn’t cancel the project’s plans, Tibiri said. It enhances them.

“It sends a message that Sault Ste. Marie is a centre of talent, a centre of expertise for lottery and gaming. Today’s announcement reaffirms that,” said Tiberi.

Tiberi said the project has been actively reaching out to private-sector lottery and gaming companies and has received dozens of inquiries in response.

“Our project is completely focussed on business attraction and business retention,” said Tiberi.

In today’s news release issued by OLG, the agency said it is revising its approach to modernization — which will no longer include the privatization of the agency.

“We will seek to enhance our capabilities in technology and innovation through partnerships with the private sector. This approach will leverage our skilled Lottery operations, headquartered in Sault Ste. Marie,” said Stephen Rigby, OLG president and CEO in the release.

Tiberi said the project is completely aligned with OLG’s interest in attracting globally-experienced firms to partner with. 

“It allows us to even further develop opportunities,” said Tibiri.

MPP David Orazietti says today’s announcement — that OLG is scrapping plans to privatize — backs up his long-held contention that lottery operations are best done from Sault Ste. Marie by OLG employees, and there are opportunities to expand.

“The incredible expertise and the talent and calibre of workmanship at the organization in the lottery division is resulting in positive benefits to the province, and these individuals in Sault Ste. Marie are the best capable of running the lottery operations for the entire province,” said Orazietti. 

Today’s announcement enhances the job security for OLG employees in Sault Ste. Marie, said Orazietti.

“This also sends a strong signal to the private sector that the province is committed to retaining and operating the lottery division and doing business in this sector . . . and that means in Sault Ste. Marie,” said Orazietti.

The city’s $750,000 contribution to the project in October was buoyed by a $1.2-million grant from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation last March.

The project had originally hoped for a $4-million investment from the province.

Mayor Christian Provenzano said the announcement offers a sense of stability moving forward, but there is more to do. 

“(OLG) are staying, but that doesn’t stop our need to grow and diversify our economy,” said Provenzano.

Provenzano said the money invested by the city was not just intended for the lottery and gaming project, but also for training initiatives in information and communication technologies.

“(Those skills) lend themselves well to the lottery and gaming industry, but there are other industries that need them, too,” said Provenzano.

Had OLG found a buyer for its lottery business, the purchaser would have been required to stay in the Sault in the short-term.

“We were only going to get a one-year commitment, post-privatization. There was only going to be a one-year obligation to stay in the Sault,” said Provenzano.

Now that OLG has committed to stay in Sault Ste. Marie, Tiberi said the focus is to align the project’s goals with the agency.

“We have to sit down with OLG officials and look at some of their immediate short-, mid- and long-term activities. We want to mesh some of our activities with that, so we can all grow together,” said Tiberi.