Last spring, a group of Standardbred breeders from Ontario launched a lawsuit against the province and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).
The group, made of up breeders from nearly 40 Ontario farms, alleged that when then OLG announced the cancellation of the lucrative Slots at Racetracks Program (SARP) in March 2012, giving only one year’s notice, that it caused irreparable damage to their industry.
The breeders say the OLG was aware that the investment of producing each horse is about a five-year commitment – from conception, to birth, to the first race. As such, giving only one year’s notice of the cancellation of SARP, drastically affected the value of their horses.
In their lawsuit, the breeders called for transparency from the Liberal government, requesting access to the documents related to the cancellation of SARP, to help them understand the decision. On February 9th, Ontario Superior Court Justice Michael Emery announced that the province and the OLG will be required to allow access – through broad production of unredacted internal files. These will include documents referring to Premier Kathleen Wynne, former premier Dalton McGuinty, former finance minister Dwight Duncan and former OLG chair Paul Godfrey.
It is noted in the decision that the province and OLG are “significant defendants with significant resources” who “have collected substantial net profits from the slots program at 15 of the 17 racetracks in Ontario after the SARP program was terminated.”
It further states that this case “involves too much money, and too many people whose livelihoods depend on a fair and transparent discovery process.”
Click here to read the full decision.
Click here to learn more about the lawsuit.
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