Doug Ford says province wants a 'different' Niagara casinos deal to offer 'more opportunities'

Premier Doug Ford said the government is renegotiating the province's deal with the operator of Niagara Falls' casinos to land something "different" than the current "monopoly."

The Ford government's discussions with Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment (MGE) and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) are also aimed at providing "more opportunities" to improve Niagara as a tourism destination, the premier added on Wednesday.

"There's a tremendous opportunity with the 11 million tourists coming down to Niagara (each year)," Ford said at an unrelated news conference in Toronto. "I've been working with the region, along with Mayor (Jim) Diodati, and just coming up with a different way."

"It's not about gambling, it's about the destination. It's about bringing families there. It's an incredible tourist attraction but we have to clean it up and make it more modern," the premier said.

There are two casinos in Niagara Falls. OLG receives a share of casinos' revenues, which the provincial government then spends on services, like health care or education.

A few months after Ford's Progressive Conservatives were elected, OLG announced it signed an agreement with Mohegan for the company to take over running the day-to-day operations of casinos in the Niagara area until 2040.

The move was part of an OLG "modernization plan" that included outsourcing the operations of the casinos in the province in regional bundles to private companies to leverage their willingness to make capital investments.

However, OLG's evaluation criteria of proponents' bids to run the Niagara casinos didn't weigh in their planned capital investments, according to a 2022 auditor general's report. A few years into the deal, Mohegan's revenue projections were reduced, the auditor found.

As The Trillium exclusively reported last week, the Ford government has been looking to change the OLG-MGE deal to potentially encourage more casinos to set up shop in the city and bolster its reputation as the so-called Las Vegas of the North.

"We just want to modernize it and clean it up and get more opportunities, more economic development, (and) increase tourism," Ford said on Wednesday. "There's a whole market south of the border that we'd love to have them come up and spend a weekend (or) spend a week."

By at least late 2022, the OLG-MGE deal had become a topic of interest within the premier's office, according to government records obtained using the freedom-of-information system.

Daily calendars of Ford's and multiple senior premier's office staffers from 2023 and 2024 show several meetings and other entries about the Niagara casinos over those years.

This May, three "negotiations update(s)" about a "Niagara Destination Strategy" were prepared for the deputy finance minister's office, according to information the Finance Ministry provided in response to a freedom-of-information request.

On Wednesday, Ford said Diodati, the mayor of Niagara Falls since 2010, has "been promoting" more casino competition "for a number of years."

Diodati is a political ally of Ford's PCs. He's also been a big proponent of the city's reputation as a gambling destination. Years before the OLG-MGE agreement was reached, Diodati had advocated for "a third casino" in Niagara Falls.

"Let's bring in ... a third operator, but cater to the high end that will build a high-end resort," Diodati said in 2013, according to CHCH's reporting.

"Finally, after all these years of multiple resolutions, multiple discussions, we've finally got a government that's willing to listen to what we're asking for and to investigate it," the mayor told a Niagara Falls Review reporter a few days ago.

“The most important thing above all is competition,” added Diodati, who also said a "completely new model and new regulations" are needed for gaming. 

A spokesperson for Diodati hadn't responded to The Trillium's request for an interview before this story was published. Spokespeople for Mohegan had also not responded before publication.

On Wednesday, Ford said "we're still ... in the midst of ... talking to Mohegan and talking the mayor and the region to see exactly what they want."

"I think it'll turn out really well, but it's not going to happen overnight," Ford said.