Niagara Falls handed $4.6M for having Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara in the city

Niagara Falls just got $4,668,393 richer for having Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara as local tenants.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) issued the city its second quarter (July 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021) non-tax gaming revenue cheque today.

The OLG calculates that since December 1996, Niagara Falls has received more than $168 million in non-tax gaming revenue, a fancier way of saying money gamblers lost.

“Our government is pleased that land-based casinos have reopened safely and are contributing to our provincial economy again,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, Ontario Minister of Finance.

“Host communities are once again benefiting from local employment and the financial proceeds that support vital services through Municipality Contribution Agreements.”

 The OLG makes payments to host municipalities under the Municipality Contribution Agreements, using a prescribed formula consistently applied across all sites in Ontario that is based on a graduated scale of gaming revenue at the hosted site or sites.

Under the province’s reopening framework, with rigorous public health and workplace safety measures in place, gaming sites were able to resume operations beginning on July 16. (Niagara Falls’ two casinos opened a week later.)

All gaming sites in Ontario resumed operations by August 16, 2021.

 To date, the OLG says host municipalities have received more than $1.76 billion in non-tax gaming revenue.

(Photo of Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati in Fallsview Casino Resort two days before it opened in July courtesy of Facebook.)