The Independent

Gateway Casino will be taking the slots out of Hiawatha Horse Park after seven years.

And the mayor of Sarnia is looking for answers, saying people will lose their jobs because of the move.

In 1999, as casinos were drawing people away from the harness tracks, the province allowed the horse-racing industry to operate slots at their horse parks. It brought in $340 million a year. In 2012, the provincial government cancelled program throwing the horse-racing industry into disarray. Seven years later, The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation launched an optional slots at the racetrack program.

In Sarnia, Hiawatha Horse Park partnered with Gateway Casino to place slots at the park. There was a five-year lease. Michelle Eaton Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs at OLG, in a letter to the City of Sarnia says that lease runs out March 31, 2026 and will not be renewed.

The municipality, which receives five per cent of the revenue, will continue to receive cash for an additional year. But Mayor Mike Bradley, voiced concern about the closure in an email to Premier Doug Ford saying there is “no rationale for the closure.

“In 2018 yourself and MPP Bob Bailey were instrumental in starting up the gaming at Hiawatha after it was closed in 2012.  Losing over a 100 jobs plus at this difficult time in the local, Ontario and Canadian economy while we struggle the impacts with the US tariff war is unacceptable from a government agency which gives no rationale,” he wrote adding it will have an impact on the horse racing industry which “has been struggling.”

Bradley wants the province to release the business case for the closure of the slots at Hiawatha.