OTTAWA — The Ontario government finally released its lottery and gaming corporation's 2000-2001 annual report, nearly two years after that fiscal year ended, in what critics called a glaring lack of public accountability.

Showing profits of $1.9 billion, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.'s 2000-2001 report was tabled Jan. 15, just days after The Canadian Press asked for a copy.

Government officials at first said the report was not yet public.

Every other lottery and gaming corporation in Canada - B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Scotia and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, which oversees the three other Atlantic provinces - has already issued annual reports for 2000-2001 and 2001-2002.

"It's unacceptable," said Nancy Langille of Ontario's foot-dragging.

Langille, spokeswoman for Gambling Watch Network, Ontario, said the elusive annual report is more proof of how the province protects crucial gambling data, including social costs.

"There's never a regular process of accountability," she said. "They constantly put out press releases on what they call revenues - which are massive collective losses. But there are never related releases on who's going for treatment and why and what percentages (of players)."

Such a long delay for a public document blocks public scrutiny of a major source of government revenue, said another gambling policy expert.

"There's a question of accountability here," said Jason Azmier of the Canada West Foundation. "It's threatening the public's ability to see what's going on in the department."

When first asked on Jan. 10 for a copy, corporation spokeswoman Anne Rappe said the 2000-2001 report had not been publicly released. She said she didn't know what had caused the delay, but said the report was complete and had gone to the political level for approval.

A spokesman for Attorney General David Young produced the report a few days later, saying it was tabled before the clerk of the legislature on Jan. 15 - the final step needed to release a report to the public.

Ben Hamilton denied the almost two-year delay was unusual. The number of casinos, racetracks and other facilities required to produce financial statements, combined with the number of offices required to sign off on the report, made it a necessarily lengthy one, he said.

"It's a document that takes a good deal of time to put together. Every casino, every racetrack, has to put together their financial statements, and the OLGC has to do its set of financial statements - those are some of the factors."

The transition to Premier Ernie Eves from Mike Harris also caused some delay, Hamilton said. This was in addition to the switch in ministerial responsibility for the gaming corporation from the Ministry of Tourism to the Ministry of the Attorney General in April 2002, he said.

The 2000-2001 report shows a stunning surge of more than half a billion dollars in profits from some 5,000 slot machines at 12 racetracks. One-armed bandit lounges were expanded with some controversy the year before to bolster the flagging racing sector.

Slot revenues from racetracks jumped to $1.04 billion from $363 million in 1999-2000, the report shows.

Machine gambling has shown to be the most addictive and potentially most damaging form of betting, said Harold Wynne, a Canadian gambling expert in Alberta.

"Our research has shown that there's a connection between problem gambling and VLTs (video lottery terminals) and slots," he said.

The province devotes two per cent of revenues from slot machines at race tracks and at four of the province's charitable casinos to fund problem gambling research and treatment. For 2001-2002, that amount was about $22 million.

Hamilton said the annual report had been sent to Young's office in August 2002, but was not signed until September.

After that, it went through "the normal cabinet processes" before finally being tabled Jan. 15, he said.

He added that the most recent annual report, for 2001-2002, has been signed and sent to cabinet for approval. He wouldn't specify when it might be tabled and publicly released.