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Scott Stinson: Ontario taxpayers plowing another $175 million into horse racing. When will it end?

The industry once had a monopoly on legal gambling, but it is struggling in a world where sports wagering has gone mobile

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The Ontario government has recently finalized details of a $175-million boost to an industry that, such an investment suggests, it sees as a key driver of economic growth and jobs.

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Artificial intelligence? Critical minerals?

Scott Stinson: Ontario taxpayers plowing another $175 million into horse racing. When will it end? Back to video

The quaint pastime, for decades the only way to legally wager on sports in Ontario, has been struggling, now that it is very much not the only way to legally wager on sports in the province. Key metrics are down, and costs are up.

And so, the Doug Ford government has done what the Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne governments did before him: Handed over a giant sack of cash to the horse racing industry and tried to buy it some more time as it figures out how to stay relevant in a world where all that is needed to legally gamble on sports is an internet connection.

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