Metrolinx explored naming deal for GO station with online gambling company: sources
CBC
Metrolinx pursued a potential commercial naming rights arrangement last year, involving Jackpot City, an online casino brand, and Toronto's Exhibition GO station, but the proposal was subsequently quashed, CBC News has learned.
The provincial transit agency has sought opportunities in recent years to bring in revenue through commercial naming rights, rebranding two Greater Toronto Area stations in this manner.
Yet a proposal for a similar arrangement involving the casino brand and Exhibition station was halted at the ministerial level last year, two sources with knowledge of the file told CBC News.
Asked for comment on the unrealized deal, Metrolinx did not deny that sequence of events had occurred.
"Before any partnership is considered, Metrolinx conducts a thorough review and assessment of the business. A careful due diligence process is always conducted before a partnership is agreed to," the transit agency said in an emailed statement.
"We regularly work with partners across all sectors, and we will continue to explore ways we can work with third parties to improve and expand our services."
A spokesperson for Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria sounded a similar note, telling CBC News via email that "when a station naming opportunity is proposed, the government and Metrolinx evaluate it to ensure it meets all government and agency advertising policies."
Neither commented on why the proposal did not move forward. Jackpot City has not responded to questions sent by CBC News.
Jackpot City is one of dozens of licensed operators vying for business in Ontario's regulated market for online gambling, one of the largest in North America, using sometimes splashy advertising techniques to do so.
Less than three years after the market's launch, Ontarians are collectively placing billions of dollars in wagers each quarter.
Veteran Liberal MPP John Fraser saw it as "good news" that the naming proposal did not go through.
"It's encouraging to me that it didn't happen," said Fraser, who has been critical of the wide promotion of gambling that accompanied the rise of more liberalized gambling in Ontario.
Fraser speculated that the term of a deal for naming rights could have influenced thinking around whether to move forward.
"You're not going to change the name of a stop every five years," he said.
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