ontario lottery and gaming corporation type government of ontario agency industry lottery casinos founded may 1975 headquarters sault ste. marie and toronto ontario key people philip olsson chair of the board of directors 1 products lotteries casinos slots bingo revenue 6.7 billion cad 2012 2 owner government of ontario number of employees 17 850 2012 2 website www.olg.ca olg headquarters in sault ste. marie ontario lottery and gaming corporation french soci t des loteries et des jeux de l ontario known for corporate branding purposes simply as olg since 2006 is a canadian crown corporation of the government of ontario canada . it is responsible for the province s lotteries charity and aboriginal casinos commercial casinos and slot machines at horse racing tracks . it was created in april 2000 when the ontario lottery corporation olc was merged with the ontario casino corporation occ established in 1994 ; prior to 2006 the combined entity was known in short form as the olgc or sljo in french . olg employs over 8000 individuals throughout ontario . olg s prize centre is located in toronto while the corporation s primary headquarters is located in sault ste. marie . whereas olg is responsible for and operates a variety of gaming services the alcohol and gaming commission of ontario agco regulates casino gaming . olg reports through its board of directors to the minister of finance . from 2003 to 2007 it was under the ministry of public infrastructure renewal . contents 1 history 1.1 modernization 1.1.1 igaming 2 divisions 2.1 lottery products 2.1.1 jackpot draws 2.1.2 daily draws 2.1.3 sports games 2.1.4 lotto advance 2.2 casinos 2.3 slots 2.4 e bingo 2.5 age requirements 3 amber alerts 4 controversies 4.1 retailer fraud 4.2 lottery ticket recalls 4.2.1 2007 super bingo recall 4.2.2 2009 fruit scratch recall 4.3 slot machine recall 4.4 aftermath 4.5 executive salary increases during public sector salary freezes 5 chair of the board of directors 6 references 7 external links history edit olg prize centre in toronto . the ontario lottery corporation was created in february 1975 under the ontario lottery corporation act 1975 repealed in 1999 and replaced with the current ontario lottery and gaming corporation act . wintario was the first lottery game offered by the fledgling olc on april 3 1975 and the first drawing took place on may 15 1975 . the product was discontinued in late 1996 after awarding over cad 1.1 billion in winnings . 3 modernization edit olg has chosen to modernize as over the past 30 years demographics have changed as have people s shopping patterns . global gaming options are more accessible particularly online . at the same time u.s. visitors have declined . all of these shifts have put the industry and its contribution to the province at risk in the long term . modernization will enable olg to provide additional revenues to the province to help fund the operation of hospitals and other provincial priorities . as a result of modernization olg will become more customer focused expand the regulated private sector delivery of lottery and gaming renew its role in the conduct and management of lottery and gaming . modernization will help to create jobs across ontario and trigger private sector investment . the capital costs of expanding improving or simply maintaining gaming facilities will no longer be carried by taxpayers . ontario residents and visitors will have access to more innovative and fun games . in addition the existing lottery distribution network will be expanded to include multi lane sales at large retailers accommodating a broader customer base . 4 igaming edit as part of modernization efforts olg is introducing igaming . olg will be launching playolg.ca a new secure website that features fun and exciting games along with a comprehensive responsible gambling program . playolg.ca will offer increased player protections secure transactions and data privacy and will require players to register to play . playolg.ca will offer ontarians a full range of online gaming options including online lottery tickets for national games such as lotto max lotto 6 49 and encore slots table games single player poker future state product releases will include online bingo sports wagering online poker other skills based games olg is establishing this website in an attempt to protect consumers from offshore internet gaming sites . offshore gaming sites do not verify the age of the participant and have no player protection or secure transactions . olg takes a strong stand against underage gambling and the playolg.ca registration process will include age verification that will help prevent minors from registering an account . 5 divisions edit olg has five business divisions 6 lottery products edit olg operates nine draw style lottery games through retailers across the province . jackpot draws edit lotto 6 49 national lotto max national ontario 49 lottario daily draws edit pick 2 pick 3 pick 4 daily keno poker lotto mega dice lotto wheel of fortune lotto nhl lotto sports games edit pro line pro picks point spread lotto 6 49 and lotto max are operated across canada by the interprovincial lottery corporation . the corporation also offers instant scratch games under the brand instant games and sports games under the brands pro line point spread and pro picks . lotto advance edit olg used to offer a subscription based lottery service called lotto advance for lotto 6 49 . this service is now discontinued since september 7 2013 . 7 casinos edit niagara fallsview casino resort facade at sundown signage at olg casino sault ste. marie olg owns and manages ten casinos some of which have private operators olg casino brantford formerly brantford charity casino casino niagara operated by falls management group lp of toronto casino rama co operated with penn national gaming of wyomissing pennsylvania olg casino sault ste. marie formerly casino sault ste. marie caesars windsor formerly casino windsor operated by caesars entertainment corporation of reno nevada great blue heron casino niagara fallsview casino resort operated by falls management group lp of toronto olg casino point edward formerly point edward charity casino olg casino thousand islands formerly thousand islands charity casino olg casino thunder bay formerly thunder bay charity casino operated directly by olg . all others are handled by private operators slots edit olg operates slot machine facilities at 14 racetracks across ontario . they are located at ajax downs clinton raceway dresden raceway flamboro downs georgian downs grand river raceway hanover raceway kawartha downs mohawk racetrack rideau carleton raceway sudbury downs western fair raceway woodbine racetrack woodstock raceway slots at racetracks generated 300 million annually for the racetracks until 2012 when the program ended . 8 e bingo edit olg operates e bingo centres in barrie peterborough kingston and sudbury . some games are linked to be played at all four simultaneously . age requirements edit the minimum age to purchase olg lottery tickets is 18 ; however for patronizing casinos and or parimutuel facilities in the province it is 19 . the same for ontario s drinking age . violators who sell olg lottery tickets to anyone under the age of 18 can face significant fines under the legislation passed in 1997 . in addition olg reserves the right to suspend violators found to have sold olg lottery tickets to anyone under the age of 18 . amber alerts edit since 2005 when an amber alert is activated olg s 9 000 lottery terminals bears the amber alert messages that broadcasts critical information within minutes after a child is abducted . police issue the amber alert when they believe that the child is abducted and is in imminent danger . 9 the amber alert messages are also displayed at olg s toronto prize centre . controversies edit retailer fraud edit on october 25 2006 the cbc program the fifth estate aired an investigative report on lottery retailers winning major prizes focusing on the ordeal of 82 year old bob edmonds . his 250 000 winning encore ticket was stolen by a convenience store clerk when he went to have his ticket checked in 2001 . for the next four years olg ignored edmonds inquiries after the clerk and her husband were falsely named the rightful winners . later when the couple were arrested for fraud olg refused to return his winnings maintaining that it wasn t their responsibility that they had been tricked ; in 2004 a judge disagreed and forced olg to give edmonds his money . they did so on the condition that edmonds sign a confidentiality agreement so that he would never tell the press about certain details of the ordeal . also the fifth estate uncovered internal olg memos where several employees admitted they believed edmonds story . immediately following the broadcast edmonds received a call from olg s president duncan brown who apologized and claimed he was ashamed about how his staff treated edmonds . olg later released edmonds from the confidentiality agreement . he died on april 2 2007 . in another case toronto variety store owner hafiz malik had defrauded four school board employees out of their 5.7 million prize . he was arrested after the original ticket owners filed a complaint with police . the opp seized or froze over 5 million of malik s assets including bank accounts three cars and a home in mississauga . olg has since awarded the rightful winners the prize plus interest . 10 the report by the fifth estate added that over 200 lottery retailers in ontario have won major prizes from 1999 to 2006 . a statistician featured in the report jeff rosenthal calculated that the chance that this would occur purely out of luck is one in a trillion trillion trillion trillion or quindecillion . 11 olg did have a policy on insider wins but it was rarely enforced during that period . provincial ombudsman andr marin released a report stating that ontario store owners and their families claimed about 100 million in lottery wins between 1999 and 2006 with tens of millions of fraudulent claims being ignored by the olgc . 10 olg has since mandated new security measures to protect lottery customers notably with customer facing displays when tickets are checked as well as special music played with a winning ticket . as of january 28 2008 lottery retailers are required to ensure that tickets are signed . there is a signature box shown on the front of all on line lottery tickets . sign your lotto ticket as of january 28 2008 lottery customers are required to sign their lottery tickets . lottery ticket recalls edit 2007 super bingo recall edit in march 2007 olg announced that it had recalled over 1 000 000 scratch and win tickets . the super bingo series of tickets were removed from retail stores after it was announced that a customer made the claim that he could visually tell which tickets were winners . it was the largest recall ever of a lottery ticket in canada and were prompted in part from greater media scrutiny regarding ongoing fraud investigations . 2009 fruit scratch recall edit in january 2009 olg announced it has recalled over 1 000 scratch and win tickets . the fruit scratch series of lottery tickets were removed from retail stores after it was discovered that over dozens of lottery tickets were reportedly misprinted . up to 150 of the misprinted tickets were reportedly purchased at eight stores across southern ontario one week before the recall was issued . olg has since reached an undisclosed settlement with a 27 year old thomas noftall from brampton ontario who was mistakenly told that he may have won 135 000 on a misprinted lottery ticket . slot machine recall edit in february 2007 it was discovered that 87 slot machines at provincially run casinos were displaying subliminal messages on slot machine screens to players . an image of a winning symbol combination was shown quickly before or