The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) have released their industry performance results for the first quarter of the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
The executive summary is as follows:
• For the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2017-18 (April 1-June 30, 2017), gross wagering on Ontario races increased by 4.3% relative to the same period the prior year, driven by growth in the Thoroughbred and Standardbred handle.
▪ Foreign wagering, mostly originating from the United States (US), was the only source of year-over-year growth for the first few months of the fiscal year (+8.5%) largely due to an appreciation of the US dollar vis-à-vis the Canadian dollar (+4.3%).
▪ The volume of betting tickets sold live, at racetracks across Ontario, saw a decline (-11.6%) compared to the previous year, mostly driven by a notable reduction for Thoroughbreds (-14.2%). This trend, though less pronounced, still persists when assessing the results on a per race basis.
▪ The Ontario horse racing industry continues to experience a decrease in the number of unique starters (-4.9%) relative to Fiscal Year 2016-17, with Thoroughbreds contributing to the bulk of this unfavourable variance partially due to less races conducted in Q1.
The complete report can be found below, or via this link.
More results will be made available by OLG officials as the fiscal year progresses.