Sault Ste. Marie-based Pollard Banknote has renewed an agreement to print scratch tickets for Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG).
Over the term of the 10-year agreement, Pollard will print more than two billion tickets for OLG, and 20 new jobs will be created in the Sault, bringing the Pollard workforce to 140.
The deal includes a five-year extension option, which would carry the partnership through 2037.
Duncan Hannay, OLG’s president and CEO, said the partnership with Pollard would secure “continuity and sustained growth and development” for the Crown corporation’s instant lottery business.
“For well over a decade we’ve worked together to find ways to deliver value for money for the people of Ontario while creating world-class product for our players,” Hannay said in an April 21 news release.
“We’re happy to be working with a partner like Pollard to create employment opportunities in this province. The new positions at the Sault Ste. Marie plant demonstrate our shared commitment to supporting economic recovery in the communities where we operate our businesses.”
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Pollard and OLG signed their first 10-year, $130-million contract in 2007, setting up a 20,000-square-foot finishing plant and hiring 100 workers.
In the decade-plus since then, an additional 20 employees have been added to the workforce.
OLG said that, since the start of the partnership, the corporation has nearly doubled the revenue from its instant ticket business.
Doug Pollard, CEO of the company that carries his name, called the longstanding partnership with OLG “productive and mutually beneficial.”
“We have worked hard to help OLG increase sales and offer an expanding selection of innovative products and services to meet the players’ evolving preferences,” he said in the release.
“Additionally, we are thrilled that the leadership and hard work of our dedicated staff at our Sault Ste. Marie plant are being rewarded with this contract extension.”
Sault Ste. Marie has been home to the OLG’s headquarters since 1986, and in the ensuing decades the city has established itself as a centre of excellence in lottery and gaming expertise, employing hundreds in the sector.
