The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre has submitted an application requesting 250-thousand dollars a year for 3-years from the city’s Economic Diversification Fund.  The executive director of the Innovation Centre Tom Vair will be on hand for Tuesday’s council meeting as the funds would be used to support the implementation of a 3 to 4-year lottery and gaming sector development strategy.  It’s hoped the municipal funding share will lever 3.5 to 4-million dollars in funding from provincial and private sources.  A report to council talks about the urgency to implement a Sault Ste. Marie lottery and gaming development strategy.  The report warns that failure to act as soon as possible will result in potential revenue and employment loss to the community over the medium and long term.  Work in the past as OLG carries out its modernizattion process,  has included community presentations to the 3 proponents bidding on the lottery business and similarily community stakeholders have presented the City’s business case to casino operators who are bidding on the northern bundle.  OLG plays an important role in the Sault economy generating an estimated 60-million dollars in direct payroll annually.