15X The Money - "Dead Game Walking" But Still On Top

The top rated game remains 15X The Money. The game has been de-activated meaning that I'm looking for scraps but it remains a solid choice with only 13% of its Top Prizes left to be claimed that represent 21% of the money allocated to the Top Prizes.

Poster JayDee was on the hunt yesterday for these tickets and managed to find quite a few. Check the comments to last weeks post for details.

The game offers one remaining outstanding Grand Prize from an estimated 430,000 tickets. Without that single prize the game would not be recommended so, if you're inclined to buy some, always ask the retailer for an up to date printout of the outstanding Grand Prizes. At present, 5.8 cents of every dollar spent on the game is allocated to that one outstanding Grand Prize. That number is only surpassed by the democratically premised Fast 200's and 500 Frenzy.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 15X The Money #1840
2. $ 5 Cross Tripler #1830 - Solid second choice and lots of tickets available. 
3. $3 Super Bingo #3018 - Best small prize return of any game. 
4. $10 Classic White #1844 - First $10-$20 game to hit the list since Classic Ruby in April. 
5. $3 Crossword #3209 - Strong on all evaluation factors. 

Games to Avoid

1. $1 5X The Money #1838 - 32% of Top Prizes left and 5% of the Top Prize money. 
2. $5 500 Frenzy #1853 - rating system punishes the game but don't hesitate to buy, if you like it. 
3. $2 Fast 200's #1817 - Same as above
4. $4 Cash For Life #1167 - Two of three jumbo Grand Prizes gone and 73% of float remains!
5. $2 10X The Money #1839 - Poorly rated on all factors. 

Games To Play If All You Want Is A Grand Prize

1. 500 Frenzy
2. Fast 200's
3. 15X The Money
4. Fortune
5. Extraordinary

Games Devoid of Grand Prizes

• 5X The Money
• Tetris
• Silver Gold

Comings and Goings

QFG Crossword #3208 was retired with no Grand Prizes remaining and 24 of the 26 million ticket float sold! A huge success for the OLG.

Not much else to report as OLG headquarters is likely operating with skeleton staff. I wonder where folks in Sault Ste Marie vacation? I have a friend who grew up in Thunder Bay. His family cottage was a ten minute drive from his house! Being from Toronto, that always seemed bizarre to me. Anyways, I wish the OLG staff a relaxing, well earned rest.

Personal Play

Four Crystal 7's included two winners of $5 each; four Cross Tripler #1830 included one winner of $30; and three 15X The Money included one winner of $3. In total, $43 from a $49 investment. The extremely good part of this "WDL" (Win disguised as loss: Thanks Tommy) is that the $30 winning ticket was not detected until the ticket was verified at the retailers!

Post Script

Sweet Cash, Cash For Life, Crystal 7's and Cash Blast all took serious hits over the past 10 days. If you're playing those games, do a double take on the numbers before you buy.

Thanks to Tommy for all of his insightful posts this past week. If you don't read the comments to these posts I recommend that you do for last weeks post. Tommy's comments succeed in ensuring that we are all realistic about this nutty endeavour. Here is some useful advice he provided in response to a post from CL66:

1. For those who know what your number crunch is, THAT is where your credibility lies.

2. I'm glad you post the odds with your winning tickets because it's important for blog readers to see how difficult it is to win.

3. One's experience is one's own. As the bottle on my desk says, individual reactions may vary. Symptoms may include nausea (looking at a pile of losing tickets), insomnia (thinking of losing tickets), diarrhea (totally irrelevant here), etc..

4. Readers should keep in mind not to interpret luck for skill. The odds are the odds. Although the number crunch helps steer readers to where the odds are better, they could still be mind boggling.

5. More important than wins are percentages. Winning $50 after spending $100 is similar to winning $5000 after spending $10,000.

6. If we were all to post our losers... ....


And thanks for the responses to Jackson Brown. I was away for several days. Someone posted a similar thing some months ago and I deleted it. I'm very reluctant to do so but attempts to defraud people is not something I can abide by. Those of you who responded to the original post did so in a most entertaining fashion.

Good luck to all.


Doug






  

15X The Money Holds On To Top Spot

The top rated game coughed up a Grand Prize over the past 10 days but continues to hold on to the top placing. The game retains one of its three Grand Prizes with only 15% of its float left to sell. Consequently, the tickets should be entering their "scarcity" phase. Your odds to snag the last Grand Prize are 1:484,620, which is not too good. In fact, the second and third rated games currently offer better odds on winning their respective Grand Prizes. The game does offer the best overall Top Prize money to actual Top Prizes of 1.46:1 which is why the game sits atop the list. That said, we are in a phase where there is no stand-out game. Any of the top rated games are on almost equal footing.

Top Rated Games

1. 15X The Money #1840
2. Cross Tripler #1830 - Strong on all rating factors and 60% of the float remains.
3. Crystal 7's #1848 - Well rated. Equal to Cross Tripler.
4. Scrabble #1835 - Number two on the Top Prize $ to Top Prizes remaining list. 
5. Crossword #3209 - Number 3 small prize availability and a positive Top Prize ratio. 

Games to Avoid

1. 5X The Money #1838 - No Grand Prizes left and lots of tickets to sell. Dangerous. 
2. 500 Frenzy #1853 - See "Comings and Goings" Comment
3. Fast 200's #1817 - Same as above
4. 10X The Money #1839 - 3 of 4 Grand Prizes claimed and 55% of float remains.
5. Tetris #1832 - Devoid of Grand Prizes

Games to Play If All You Want Is The Grand Prize

1. 500 Frenzy
2. Fast 200s
3. Cash Blast
4. Extreme
5. Cash For Life

Games Devoid Of Grand Prizes

• 5X The Money
• Tetris
• Silver Gold
• QFG Crossword

Comings and Goings

Cross Tripler #1810 and the Interprovincial game Classic Ruby were both deleted this past week. The games came on line around the same time. Each had one Grand Prize left to claim. Cross Tripler had 878,000 tickets left to sell at $5 out of an initial float of 8.6 million whereas Classic Ruby had 2.4 million tickets to sell out of a float of 6.8 million. There is a price resistance point in there somewhere.

New to the scene is an inter-provincial game (Extreme Millions) which looks a lot like Extraordinary except some of the Top Prize money is shifted towards the Grand Prizes. The new game has already given up one of its Grand Prizes to a winner in Mitchell, Ontario as reported in the comments to last weeks blog entry. I expect that Extraordinary is on its last legs. Its been on sale since April 2014 and still has half of its float to sell. Lets see if the new ticket prompts some easy sales.

Sweet Cash is a new $3 game most similar to Scrabble. 

Finally, $500 Frenzy is an upscale version of Fast 200's. These games are quite different from the other games and are punished by my evaluation method. I consider them to be outliers and should not be avoided because my method does not like them. $500 Frenzy offers one chance in 560 to Win A Grand Prize of $500 and one chance in 295 to win at least $100. That's not bad. True, the pot of gold offered by large Grand Prizes is missing and your chances to cash for any prize of more than the cost of the ticket is the worst of any game, but both games warrant some consideration.

Personal Play

Ten 15X The Money tickets contained 10 winners totaling $41. Pretty good once you get over the irritation of "winning" your money back. I guess its better than a slot machine that costs you 50 cents per play and the confounded thing acts like you won something when you get 20 cents of your 50 cents returned to you.

Post Script

The summer must be winding down as the number of comments made to the blog are on the upswing. I enjoy reading about how folks are doing and any other irreverent thoughts that people may have. Visitors should check those comments to see CL66's detailed reviews of new games and his charts of odds breakdowns.

This story from Simcoe.com caught my attention this past week: http://www.simcoe.com/news-story/5792716-barrie-gas-station-thief-flees-with-scratch-tickets/ . My immediate thought was to call the police and report TMF as a possible suspect but I don't think that he ever comes further east than the Guelph line. Maybe Darth....

I was in the USA last week and my traveling companion picked up a few scratch tickets. He was a winner with the first $2 ticket that he purchased and he wants you all to know that.

Lastly, I received a message from an individual who had closed down their PlayOLG account due to consistent and painful losses. I want that person to know that being able to identify that they are vulnerable is a clear sign that they're going to get the problem under control. The chart I posted the other week showed clearly that people who have voluntarily entered the "self exclusion" offered by OLG predominantly live in the areas where slot palaces/casinos are located. That stands to reason.

The Play OLG site brings the casino right into your home. What could be more dangerous? Yet the OLG loves to present itself as being concerned about your "responsible" play. Bunkum. It's organizations like this one  http://www.problemgambling.ca or this one http://www.responsiblegambling.org that are truly dedicated to the problem.

The OLG has been mandated to provide lip service to the problem and they do just that but everything they do is designed to put more and more people at risk. That's how they increase the money that they return to the Provincial Treasurer. It's a tough ethical position that Governments everywhere face. It's my view that the OLG should be freed from this inconsistent mandate. Let them concentrate on maximizing profits but give another organization power over how that is ultimately done. Asking the OLG to self police is not fair to them or us. I'd be interested to hear of any other readers experiences on www.playolg.ca


Good Luck to all.


Doug

15X The Money Improves Its Placing

With 18% of the float remaining to be sold, the top rated game retains two of its three Grand Prizes. Players have one chance in 290,000 to find one of the $75,000 winners. It is the second rated game of money spent on the game that goes to the remaining Grand Prizes. You have one chance in 1473 to win any prize of $100 or more. The game returns 4.2% of its revenue to winners of $100 or more and less than the Grand Prize which is the best of all $3 games and third of any game currently for sale.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 15X The Money #1840
2. $3 Super Bingo #3018 -  Excellent small prize availability
3. $3 Crossword #3209 - Good well rounded game
4. $3 Keno #1416 - Another well rounded choice.
5. $5 Crystal 7's #1848 - Top rated non- $3 game

Games to Avoid

1. $2 Fast 200's #1817 - Hard to recommend against it with two winners being reported.
2. $1 5X The Money #1838 - 42% of Top Prizes left but only 23% of Prize Money for them. 
3. $5 Silver Gold #1831 - Lost all of its Grand Prizes this past week.
4. $3 Tetris #1832 - Another game devoid of Grand Prizes
5. $5 20X The Money #1841 - poor on all rated factors. 

Best Games To Play If You Only Want The Grand Prize

1. Fast 200's
2. Cash For Life
3. Cash Blast
4. Aces and 8's
5. Fortune

Games Devoid of Grand Prizes

• Silver Gold
• Tetris
• QFG Crossword

Comings and Goings

Aces and Eights was added this week. I'm always puzzled by the marketing associated with this game. This is the hand that Wild Bill Hickok was reputedly holding when he was shot in the head from behind. And this is a good thing because.....

Regardless, the game is selling well and is already among the top ten rated games.

No games were retired.

Personal Play

Ten 15X The Money tickets contained two winners of $11. With Fast 200's giving up two winners to Scott I may have to venture that way. Go with flow, as they say.

The Wrap

A poster has indicated that a new $25 game is about to come on line. Really? The current $20 game has been on sale for over 15 months and only half of its tickets have been sold. There's over 7 million more of those suckers to sell. I will find it interesting to see if a new shiny game of this sort can spark sales.

I must also note that CL66 and I both have 15X The Money as our top rated game. That's a first and it can only mean one thing - buy something else!

Happy Civic Holiday/Bank Holiday/Simco Day/ Emancipation Day to all.


Doug

Good-Bye Fruit Explosion - Hello 15X The Money

The former top rated game has been deleted from the Outstanding Prize list but not before I was able to absorb some serious loss on the game. Stepping up to take its place is 15X The Money. This game came on line along with sister games at the beginning of May. To date it has sold 79% of its float (+/- 2%) while retaining 2 of its 3 Grand Prizes. The game currently has the highest ratio of Top Prizes left when compared to the money for those top prizes of 1.77. It only returns 58.3% of its revenue to winners of less than $100 which is not very good. The game does return 6.5% of its revenue to winners of $100 or more which  is very good for a $3 game. At present, 7.3 cents of every dollar spent on the game is returned to the two outstanding Grand Prize winners. That is the second best number next to Fast 200's.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 15X The Money #1840 - New leader; can it stay on top?
2. $3 Tetris #1832 - One of two Grand Prizes left and 34% of the float. 
3. $3 Super Bingo #3018 - Best small prize return of any game currently for sale.
4. $5 Cross Tripler #1830 - The only $5 game on the list.
5. $3 Crossword #3209 - decent numbers and plentiful tickets.

Games to Avoid

1. $2 Fast 200's #1817 - Grand Prize or bust.
2. $2 5X The Money #1838 - Only 1 of 5 Grand Prizes remain and 48% of the float to sell. 
3. $5 20X The Money #1841 - Poor numbers on all factors. 
4. $1 10000 Spin #1802 - A dog on all scales. 
5. $2 10X The Money #1839 - Nothing to recommend. 

Games to Play If All You Want Is The Grand Prize

1. Fast 200's
2. Cash Blast
3. 15 X The Money
4. Cash For Life
5. Fortune

Games Devoid Of Grand Prizes

• QFG Crossword

Comings and Goings

Win Take All, Double Cash For Life, and Fruit Explosion were all deleted this past week. Double Cash For Life was a welcomed departure and although Fruit Explosion was the top rated game, only 8% of its float was left to sell and that always represents the end for most games. Win Take All was a surprise as it had 2 of its 7 Grand Prizes left and 22% of its float. I'm not really sure that an error was not made when updating the web site. That's happened before....

Personal Play 

The good news was that I found a trove of Fruit Explosions - bought all 22 of them. Results: 4 winners of $24. Yecch.

In total I cashed on 22 of the 68 tickets I bought and realized a return of 54%, roughly 5% less than I should have expected even eliminating all prizes of $100 or more.

The Wrap

Congratulations to poster Scott Robertson who hit a $200 winner on Fast 200's.

http://s1030.photobucket.com/user/scottydog1719/media/Mobile%20Uploads/DSC_0009_zps4jfbfsax.jpg.html


There is nothing I enjoy more than folks who read this blog, buy from the avoid list, and win! And I mean that. I have been quite diligent in following my own advice over the course of the past three years and I have yet to be rewarded. I think I'll pick up a couple of Fast 200's tickets this week out of respect to Scott.

The family of "Times The Money" games were all introduced at the same time (May 5th). Here are the to date sales figures:

$1 5X The Money - 1.5 million
$2 10X The Money - 1.1 million
$3 15X The Money - 2.5 million
$5 20X The Money - 2.4 million

Pretty clear what games scratch players prefer.

Any Lotto Max winners out there?

Doug

Fruit Explosion #1834 Remains Alive And On Top

Surprisingly, Fruit Explosion remains on the Outstanding Prize list and therefore remains the top choice. The game is on borrowed time and is the solid choice, if you can find any. Ticket sales have predictably dried up. Your chances to win the sole remaining Grand Prize are 245,000:1. I'd like to talk more about the game but I'm afraid that it is pointless. If you can find any - buy them.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 Fruit Explosion #1834
2. $3 15X The Money #1840 - 2nd best ratio of Top Prize $ left to claim. 
3. $3 Super Bingo #3018 - 2nd best small prize ratio with an even rating in Top Prize $.
4. $5 Cross Tripler #1830 - Strong on both factors. 
5. $3 Keno #1416 - A weak 5th in the group. 

Games To Avoid

1. $4 Double Cash For Life #1170 - Huge Grand prize, nothing else, and no Grand Prizes remain.
2. $2 Fast 200s #1817 - A one in 800 chance to turn $2 into $200.
3. $1 5X The Money #1838 - Poor on all factors.
4. $1 10000 Spin #1802 - Nothing to recommend.
5. $5 20X The Money #1841 - Only 1 of 8 Grand Prizes remain and 24% of the ticket float to sell.

Games If All You Want Is The Grand Prize

1. Fast 200's
2. Fruit Explosion
3. Cash Blast
4. Silver Gold
5. Cash For Life #1167

Games Devoid Of Grand Prizes

• Double Cash For Life #1170
• Quest For Gold Crossword #3208

Comings and Goings

Money Multiplier and Keno #1415 were retired this past week. Money Multiplier was devoid of Grand Prizes and offered a Grand Prize of $100,000. With 17% of its float left, it was retired just about when one would expect. Keno was a good game that still had a Grand Prize left but it has a sister game that remains for sale and is also a good choice so --- no harm, no foul.

Personal Play

I was lucky enough to discover a stash of Fruit Explosions - bought ten and three 15X The Money. In what is becoming a trend, the supply had six winners that totaled a modest $24. I guess I can't complain but I would like to stumble upon a prize or two that gives my YTD results a boost.

In Conclusion

Congratulations to Shannon who hit with a $300 winner on Scrabble https://www.dropbox.com/s/hf9au10vhx5cqe2/20150709_220937.jpg?dl=0 . There are only 121 of those winners in the entire float of 2.7 million tickets. Good going Shannon and thanks for letting us know.

A note to Amber who was asking about Bingo 3016. I rated the game just outside of the top five and CL66 had it lower. As of today, it has recently lost another Grand Prize leaving 4 of 10 outstanding and 39% (+/- 2%) of its float left to sell. I now rate it 11th overall. While it is not at the top of the list, if she likes the game, I would not hesitate to try it.

This weeks story comes from Fort Erie http://bit.ly/1JXo253 . I feel sorry for the folks at the Fort Erie Race Track as they are in trouble and the cavalry is not coming. When the OLG set out on its "Modernization" mission, it cared not about Horse Racing. The slots at Fort Erie were being hammered by the Casino in Buffalo and the two Niagara casinos would sop up any players who preferred not to cross the border to gamble. When the Premier force fed the priority of the health of the racing industry into the OLG mandate, it was too late to change that direction. The OLG is not going to run slot palaces any longer and the folks who own the Niagara casinos are certainly not going to make a capital investment into the slots at Fort Erie as the OLG Spokesperson pointed out with tact. It's hopeless for them. Still, the interim funding being provided to the racing industry has kept Fort Erie race track afloat for the moment. For those who have never visited, it is a very pretty locale. The Prince of Wales Stakes will be run there on July 28th. Frank Stronach has decided to pursue the Canadian Triple Crown with his Queen's Plate winner, Sharman Ghost, instead of heading south to bigger three-year old races. He is to be applauded for deciding to support Canadian horse racing. The OLG should do as much.

The hunt for more Fruit Explosions continues.


Doug

Fruit Explosion #1834 - One Last Gasp

I have been unable to find any Fruit Explosion tickets over the past 10 days but some posters continue to report that they are out there, somewhere. One poster found 18 of them that contained exactly three $3 winning tickets. My condolences.

The game now has an estimated 8% of its float left or 250,000 tickets. The key to the high rating for the game is that the 8% of Top Prize tickets remaining are worth 20% of the money associated with those tickets. There remains one Grand Prize of $75,000 as well as two $10,000 prizes. I suspect that the game will be de-listed by the time of the next blog update so the time is now.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 Fruit Explosion #1834
2. $3 15X The Money #1840 - Made a large move up the ratings this past week.
3. $3 Super Bingo #3018 - Don't forget the on-line component of the game. 
4. $5 Cross Tripler #1830 - Solid if not spectacular choice.
5. $3 Keno #1415 - High cash rate. 

Games To Avoid

1. $4 Double Cash For Life #1170 - Road kill. 
2. $2 Fast 200's #1817 - 2,900 Grand Prizes remain. Whup di- doo. 
3. $5 Money Multiplier #1828 - No Grand prizes left. 
4. $5 20X The Money #1841 - Poorly rated on all factors. 
5. $1 10,000 Spin #1802 - A stinker. 

Games To Play If All You Want Is The Grand Prize

1. Fast 200's - if you think that $200 is a Grand Prize. 
2. Fruit Explosion
3. Cash Blast
4. Cash For Life
5. Win Take All

Games Devoid of Grand Prizes

• Money Multiplier
• Double Cash For Life
• QFG Crossword

Comings and Goings

A new Scrabble game came on line this week. See the analysis by CL66 in the comments to last week's update. He ranks it 11th; I have it 15th. It is a typical $3 game.

There were no games retired this week.

Personal Play

Have I described the boost one gets when cashing in losing tickets only to find that there was a winner tucked in there that you did not identify? Well, the opposite happened to me this week. I thought that I had a $30 winning Cross Tripler ticket only to find out that it was a loser! I can report that the angst is more powerful than the glee.

In Conclusion

I received a direct message this week (not posted to blog) advertising a service that will sell me spells in order to increase my chances of finding a winning ticket. Really? People send money for that?

Thanks for the OLG Key Message document that was sent to me with respect to the de-activation of Double Cash For Life after the last Grand Prize was claimed. I used to contribute to similar documents in a past life so I get a great deal of pleasure reading such documents very closely.

A key message for consumers (us) is that the policy to de-activate games with Grand Prizes of $100,000 or more once the last Grand Prize has been claimed, "is a reflection of research that showed that customers are more likely to stop playing....". Research, you say....interesting.

Later in the document we learn that the policy was put into place in 2008. "The OLG conducted research with consumer groups and consulted with other lotteries...". I wonder who those "consumer groups" actually were? Maybe the Hamilton Branch of the Cash For Life scratch ticket brigade?

It seems to me that the OLG could actually measure this factor directly. In my opinion, almost all scratch ticket players buy on impulse and as a matter of habit. I suspect that there is no measurable difference in sales of games based upon outstanding Grand Prizes regardless of the amount of the Grand Prize. The factors that do impact have to do with the length of time that the game has been on sale and whether players like the structure of the game. Now, don't get me wrong --- I like the policy, it's just that I'm suspicious of the rationale. My argument is that the same policy should apply to all games. Comments welcome.

Here's a story from Global TV http://bit.ly/1LYwzYB that includes graphically the number of folks who have applied for self-exclusion in relation to where Casinos/Slot Palaces are located. Is it any wonder that the OLG wants to build new facilities in the downtown core of cities? Of course not. And we also know that they earn about 25% of their total profits from the very small number of problem gamblers. It's a tough dilemma but the Government of Ontario should at all times be up front and honest about these considerations.

Best.

Doug

Fruit Explosion #1834 Remains The Top Choice

Fruit Explosion is days away from being deleted. Posters who were lucky enough to find some have almost unanimously reported poor results. Still, that last Grand Prize remains outstanding and only 280,000 tickets remain to be sold. Perhaps it's time to move on to greener pastures. I'll be keeping my eye out for them but I'm not optimistic. The good news is that we are in a current phase where there are lots of $3 games that are highly rated. These are the bread and butter games for the OLG and I have to admit that the more tickets I get to scratch the more serene I become.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 Fruit Explosion #1834 - 9% of the top prizes remain along with 21% of the TP money.
2. $3 Super Bingo #3018 - excellent small prize ratio. 
3. $5 Cross Tripler #1830 - Solid choice on all measurement factors
4. $3 Bingo #3016 - Decent small prizes and very positive prize $ ratio. 
5. $3 Keno #`1416 - Good choice and a slight preference over its sister version.

Games to Avoid

1. $4 Double Cash For Life #1170 - On life support. Please don't help to save it. 
2. $2 Fast 200's #1817 - Lots of small Grand Prizes. One chance in 800 to nab one. 
3. $1 $10000 Spin #1802 - Poor all around. 
4. $5 20X The Money #1841 - Nothing to recommend.
5. $5 Money Multiplier #1828 - Devoid of Grand Prizes 

Best Games If All You want Is The Grand Prize

1. Fast 200's
2. Cash Blast
3. Fruit Explosion
4. Cash For Life
5. Win Take All

Games Devoid of Grand Prizes

• Money Multiplier
• Double CFL
• QFG Crossword

Comings and Goings

The Interprovincial Lottery folks tossed in the towel on two $10 games this past week - Cadillac Riches and Bejeweled. Each game had about 30% of its respective float left to sell and sales for both games were poor given the length of time that they were on the market. I did not like either of them but CL66 was a proponent of both games. Perhaps our respective lists will begin to look more alike now that these two games are gone.

I have a problem with the new Cash For Life. When I expand the prize returns I calculate a return to players of 66.8%. The game sheet says that it is 65.85%. I have not seen a similar situation since Double Cash For Life and that one continues to perplex me as indicated in last weeks blog post. I'll be calling my friends at OLG tomorrow to discuss.

Personal Play

I fell upon a trove of Fruit Explosions along the 401 last week. I bought 13 and was quite enthusiastic. Of the first seven tickets, I had one winner of $9. I stopped scratching with the intention to complete the task later. The next day I scratched the remaining six and all six of them were winners! The chances of that are one in 1,400! How much return did I get for the six winners? Get ready --- $21!!! That's a $3 profit for the day. In total, the lot had 7 winners (54%) and returned $30 (77%), Lame-o!

In Conclusion

This article from the Gananoque Reporter is of interest http://bit.ly/1GNoyy8 . It's no wonder that the OLG is prevaricating on this one. The City of Kingston (the largest municipality in the Eastern Zone) told the OLG to take a hike. The OLG then went calling to Belleville whose city council gave the OLG a "thumbs up". So, the new operator will take over the 1000 Island Casino ($70 m revenue/yr), the Kawartha Slot Palace ($60 m revenue/yr) and invest in the construction of a new casino in Belleville.

Don't forget that all of this "modernization" is happening so that the OLG can increase their contributions to the provincial treasury thereby buying us all more knee operations. The current profit on the two existing plants is about $100 m/yr. With a new operator the OLG take will be reduced from 75% of revenue to 45% (est). That means that the total revenue will have to increase to about $220 m/yr in order for the OLG to break even. And they'll have to do this without having a casino in downtown Kingston. Who exactly will be responsible for the failure of their misguided "modernization" plan? No one. But we do know who will pay the price - the 571 current employees whose compensation package will surely be sliced by the new operator who will be functioning in a government protected no-compete market place. Stay tuned.

A shout out to my niece Leslie who won $50 this past week on Classic White.

Happy Canada Day to all. It's always a wild time here in Ottawa.


Doug