Article content

Ontario’s government wants to sell lottery tickets at more stores and even via mobile phones, and is soon to pick the company that will help it do that.

The lottery is the heart of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.’s business, making about $850 million of the roughly $2 billion a year the OLG delivers to the provincial government. But it’s run using an outmoded network of 10,000 terminals, mainly in convenience stores, and ticket-buyers are aging.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Ontario's lottery business goes up for bids Back to video

“OLG’s current terminal technology limits where lottery tickets can be sold and does not fully reflect current shopping patterns,” the agency reported in 2012, laying out its plans to modernize its operations. “The majority of Ontario adults under 45 frequent supermarkets, big box stores and large retail locations. As a result, even though 50 per cent of adult Ontarians play the lottery regularly, just 14 per cent of adults under 45 play the lottery at least once a week.”