Ontario's lottery and gaming privatisation continues
Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation requests service providers to pre-qualify for running offline and online lottery operations
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) has invited service providers to submit a request for pre-qualification (RFPQ) to run the offline and online lottery as it continues to privatise the province’s gaming operations.
Service providers have until 4 April 2013 to reply and demonstrate that they have the required experience and technological capabilities to operate a sustainable lottery business.
The RFPQ also promises the successful applicant the chance to use the OLG’s forthcoming internet gaming site, set to be introduced in 2013, and/or introduce its own internet and mobile sites for selling lottery tickets.
OLG president and CEO Rod Phillips said in a statement: “By modernising our lottery business, we will increase efficiencies, expand options for lottery sales, and introduce new games and innovation to the system. We want to make playing the lottery more convenient and engaging for our customers.”
The chosen service provider will receive a minimum CA$100m per year fixed fee for maintenance operating costs, as well as an additional variable fee consisting of a percentage of the annual net win.
More than 30 responses were received in reply to the request for information (RFI) issued by the OLG earlier this year.
The move follows OLG’s issuance last month of RFPQs for service providers to operate land-based and online gambling in different geographical regions of Ontario, with a 7 March 2013 deadline for replies.
The province first announced it was to offer online gaming back in 2010 when OLG chair Paul Godfrey told a press conference: “We know that we’re losing about CA$400m per year to offshore websites”, adding that “if we’re going to retain Ontarians’ money in Ontario, we’ve got to start doing it now”.