The recent audit report on Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) proves once again that you should not audit something you do not understand. Gaming is based on promises of riches. It takes a gamer to understand that not everybody can win.
And you are hardly going to win when the politicians interfere with the promises. You cannot win when the reins are handed to civil servants. When Premier Kathleen Wynne fired Postmedia newspaper head Paul Godfrey as chair of OLG a year ago, it should have been understood that all bets were off. In gaming terms the dice had been thrown off the craps table. Wynne thought she was making Godfrey the scapegoat for what was going to happen.
But politicians have to pay for their own mistakes. And this was a big one. Godfrey’s plan was going to double OLG revenues for the province. That plan was worth almost $2 billion a year and it could have been done. It just needed a gamer such as Paul to carry it off. He was willing to brazen it out. He could have stared down the unrealistic dreams of the horse breeders. He could have talked turkey with foolish municipal politicians. One thing you learn in gaming, everyone has their price.
The one thing that auditors should talk about is money. That is their job. You verify the receipts, you check the expenses, you find out what is still in the bank. It is hardly the role of an auditor to tell you your plans are ‘overly optimistic.’ Why an auditor is even reporting on a now dead modernization plan for OLG is ‘problematical.’
That is just a small bonus for Wynne rivals Horwath and Hudak. Does an auditor time these things for the eve of an election?
The point is that the OLG is in trouble. It is ill-run, kicked around by politicians and on a down-hill slide unless somebody knowledgeable gets control of the situation. The big money lotteries are losing traction and support, the casinos are out of control as they scramble to meet business objectives and there is no growth offered in the planning.
The casinos are of special concern as they are inflicted with the cross control of two major provincial government departments as well as the interim civil service managers at OLG. The only problem is that the casino professionals who are supposed to be under the control of all these civil servants are a hell of a lot smarter than their bosses.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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