Toronto holds cards

After mayors outside Toronto squawked about a “special deal” to put a downtown casino in Canada’s largest city, Premier Kathleen Wynne made a point of demanding the same funding formula for all communities.

One will surely be written. But, make no mistake, Toronto will still rake in far more money from hosting a casino than any other city. Sorry, Ottawa. But you’ll have to be content with a smaller jackpot.

Here’s why: odds of city council support for a casino amount to zero if Toronto doesn’t earn at least $100 million a year for welcoming a gambling mega-complex. That’s far more than what would accrue under the hosting formula currently applied to other cities.

A great glut of cash was dangled in front of Toronto, anyway, by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., triggering outside objections to a special deal. Now a new formula must be drafted and, if history is any guide, it will make an extraordinary windfall from casino gambling technically available to all. But here’s the rub: it will be written to ensure that only one city qualifies — Toronto.

The same thing happened with budget bailouts Toronto used to receive from Queen’s Park. Assistance was technically available to every Ontario city. But, whoops, only those that happened to have a subway met all the requirements. Expect a similarly structured formula on casino revenues.

Simply put, Toronto still holds the high cards.