John Hayes has returned as Ontario Racing’s independent chair, taking office on Nov. 2 with an agenda centred on broadening betting options and attracting younger customers to a sector whose operations largely depend on wagering revenue.
Hayes succeeded Andrew Gaughan, who said in August that he would not seek another term after an extension of his mandate expired at the end of October. Gaughan had taken over from Hayes in 2022.
The returning chair previously led Ontario Racing from 2018 to 2022. During that first tenure, he helped secure a 19-year Long-Term Funding Agreement with the Ontario government in 2019 and helped steer the industry through the initial pandemic closure of racetracks.
Hayes told BloodHorse that expanded wagering offerings would be among his principal priorities. He said potential new customers were likely to seek alternatives to traditional win, place and show bets and exotic wagers, and that the industry must understand changing customer demographics as it executes its viability plan.
The objective is to grow betting handle, which funds much of horse racing’s operations, while confronting an aging and shrinking base of fans and bettors. Ontario Racing is studying whether a fixed-odds product could generate sufficient revenue to support racing, although any new wagering products would need approval from the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency.
Canada’s current horse-racing betting system is pari-mutuel wagering, in which customers wager against one another and the operator takes a share for providing the product. The system has been less appealing to some bettors, particularly younger customers accustomed to other sports-betting models.
Ontario has nevertheless expanded the availability of its existing pari-mutuel product. Woodbine Entertainment has placed its offering on bet365 and OLG Proline, with wagers routed through Woodbine’s tote system. OLG.ca and the OLG app also offer Woodbine’s racing product, including betting on Ontario races, international racing and the King’s Plate.
Hayes’s agenda extends beyond wagering. He said he would pursue repeal of Section 31 of the Income Tax Act, which restricts hobby-business horse owners to deducting no more than $17,500 in annual losses against their principal business. He argued that the tax treatment discourages prospective investors from entering Canadian racing.
He has also stressed the need to translate Ontario Racing’s viability plan into a small number of defined actions with clear timing. Hayes, a Standardbred owner and former executive at General Electric, Black & Decker and Home Depot, previously served as Ontario Lottery and Gaming’s gaming director and held operational responsibilities at several Ontario tracks, including Ajax Downs, Georgian Downs, Grand River Raceway and Woodbine Racetrack.
The stakes are substantial for the province’s racing sector. Live racing is held at 14 Ontario tracks, supporting about 18,000 jobs and contributing more than $1.9 billion annually to the provincial economy, according to Gaming News Canada. The industry also generates about $330 million in provincial taxes each year.
During Gaughan’s tenure, Ontario secured an additional $35 million a year for five years for horse racing, with most of that money directed toward purses and breed-development programmes. Hayes said his reason for returning was to help the sport prosper and grow all three breeds.
