The AGCO receives its annual spending authority from the Ministry of the Attorney General’s annual Expenditure Estimates, as approved by the Ontario Legislature. The AGCO’s expenses are offset by a combination of cost recoveries and base funding from government. As the AGCO continues to deliver on its expanded mandate, the AGCO will continue to explore opportunities for long-term financial sustainability by identifying potential offset strategies, and through cost and resource optimization. As the AGCO matures its measurement practices for resource use across the enterprise, it will be able to leverage new and deeper data sets to identify opportunities for strategic and sustainable resource allocation. Beginning in 2021-22, the AGCO has issued annual audited financial statements and received clean audit opinions from its external auditor, the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario (OAGO). The AGCO is committed to ensuring that robust financial controllership processes and procedures are in place and implementing audit recommendations set forth by the OAGO; no new audit recommendations were received in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
AGCO’s Multi-Year Budgets (in $000s) REVENUE
| Forecasted Revenue (by Sector) | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liquor | 21,040 | 20,386 | 19,948 | 21,212 |
| Gaming | 20,782 | 18,934 | 20,782 | 18,934 |
| Horse Racing | 9,239 | 9,590 | 9,308 | 9,590 |
| Cannabis | 4,770 | 4,091 | 5,339 | 4,352 |
| Forecasted Revenue Total | 55,832 | 53,000 | 55,378 | 54,087 |
Notes:
- The Budget figures represent a multi-year revenue forecast (as of Q2 2024-25) of registration and licensing fees collected and deposited into the government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund; revenue collected does not directly offset the AGCO’s costs.
OPERATING (in $000s)
| Category | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Expense | Budget | Forecast | Variance | Budget | Forecast | Budget | Forecast | Budget | Forecast |
| Salaries & Wages | 83,919 | 87,919 | 4,000 | 84,028 | 90,921 | 84,000 | 94,482 | 84,000 | 98,381 |
| Benefits | 18,439 | 20,723 | 2,284 | 18,482 | 19,197 | 18,491 | 19,615 | 18,491 | 20,065 |
| Transportation & Communications | 1,770 | 1,607 | (164) | 1,762 | 1,762 | 1,753 | 1,753 | 1,753 | 1,753 |
| Services | 32,496 | 20,716 | (11,780) | 19,047 | 19,347 | 18,805 | 19,105 | 18,805 | 19,105 |
| Suppliers & Equipment | 963 | 979 | 16 | 963 | 963 | 963 | 963 | 963 | 963 |
| Gross Operating Total | 137,586 | 131,943 | (5,643) | 124,280 | 132,189 | 124,012 | 135,918 | 124,012 | 140,267 |
| LESS: Recoveries | 73,733 | 54,393 | (19,340) | 60,825 | 54,495 | 60,825 | 56,032 | 60,825 | 57,825 |
| Net Operating Total | 63,853 | 77,550 | 13,697 | 63,455 | 77,694 | 63,187 | 79,886 | 63,187 | 82,442 |
Notes:
- The 2024-25 Budget figures reflect amounts approved through the 2024-25 Expenditure Estimates process. Out-year Budget figures reflect anticipated amounts (as of October 2024) based on previous Treasury Board/Management Board of Cabinet approvals through past Strategic Planning Process (SPP) submissions.
- The 2024-25 Budget figures exclude budget for iGaming Ontario’s (iGO) payroll and employee benefits costs paid by the AGCO on behalf of iGO.
- Significant variances between the 2024-25 Budget vs. Forecast (as of Q2) are as follows:
- Salaries & Wages and Benefits – Due to union/non-union/management staff compensation increases.
- Services – Budget figure includes $12.9M for expenditures related to external consultants contracted to assist with eligibility assessments; $11.8M in unused budget is to be re-profiled to the next fiscal year through the Strategic Planning Process (SPP).
- Recoveries – Budget figure also includes $12.9M in recoveries for expenditures related to external consultants contracted to assist with eligibility assessments; $1M is forecasted to be spent and recovered in 2024-25.
- Net Operating Total – A deficit of $13.7M is forecasted in 2024-25 as of Q2; insufficient annual revenue and recoveries in addition to increasing operating costs have resulted in an ongoing, annual financial deficit.
- Gross Operating Forecast will increasingly exceed Gross Operating Budget in the out- years primarily because the Gross Operating Budget has not been adjusted for union/non-union/management staff compensation increases.
CAPITAL (in $000s)
| Category | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Budget | Forecast | Variance | Budget | Forecast | Budget | Forecast | Budget | Forecast | |
| Capital Assets | 2,109 | 1,669 | (350) | 1,535 | 1,323 | 502 | 1,267 | 274 | 504 |
Notes:
- Budget is for major capital asset expenditures categorized under Business Applications Software and Information Technology Hardware:
- Includes investments in enhancements to iAGCO (AGCO’s online licensing portal) as well as personal computing devices, office equipment, servers/mainframes, data network equipment, and storage devices.
- Variance in 2024-25 is related to the enhancement of iAGCO; $0.35M in Capital Assets Budget is to be re-profiled through the Strategic Planning Process (SPP) for use in 2025- 26.