Loto Canada : Loto Canada Inc. was established as a Crown Corporation under the provisions of Vote L27A Appropriation Act No. 4 (R.S.C. 1974-75-76, chap. 103) and was incorporated under the provisions of the Canada Business Corporations Act on 7 June 1976 (R.S.C. 1974-75-76, chap.33). It began operations following the termination of the Olympic Lottery in September 1976. The mandate of the Corporation was to conduct and manage a national lottery, the net revenues of which would be allocated as follows: to assist in financing the deficit of the 1976 Olympic Games and the financing of the 1978 Commonwealth Games (82.5%); for the purposes of physical fitness, amateur sport and recreation programmes (5%); and, to the provinces (12.5%). The Corporation operated with a network of regional offices to coordinate the activities of wholesale ticket agents and retailers.
As a result of the federal-provincial agreement under which the federal government undertook to vacate the lottery field to the provinces, Loto Canada Inc. ceased ticket sales, closed its regional offices, and was to have gone out of existence entirely 31 December 1979. However, the new government elected in February 1980 did not proceed with the winding up of the Corporation. Rather, its Ottawa staff worked in developing plans for betting pools involving professional sports contests. The federal role in lotteries received renewed life through the creation of the Canadian Sports Pool Corporation which came into existence as the result of the passage of the Athletic Contests and Events Pool Act (29-30-31-32 Elizabeth II, chap. 161, assented to 29 June 1983).
The Canadian Sports Pool Corporation operated the Sport Select baseball pool ticket scheme up to September 1984. This Corporation had offices in 14 Canadian cities with headquarters first in Ottawa (1983-84) and later in Montreal (1984). In the face of provincial objections that the Corporation's activities violated the 1979 federal-provincial agreement governing lotteries, the federal government dissolved the Canadian Sports Pool Corporation and Loto Canada Inc. through passage in June 1985 of An Act Respecting the Winding Up of the Canadian Sports Pool and Loto Canada Inc. (S. C., 1985, Chap.22). Responsibility for the fitness and amateur sport portfolio was moved among ministries during the relatively brief period during which the two corporations existed. As a result, Loto Canada Inc. and the Canadian Sports Pool Corporation reported to Parliament, at different times, through the Minister of State for Fitness and Amateur Sport and the Minister of Labour.
