page_title: Liquor Control Board of Ontario
section_title: Pricing
hierarchical_section_title: Liquor Control Board of Ontario / Pricing
caption_attribution_description: English: LCBO at Uptown Market, Markham
context_page_description: The Liquor Control Board of Ontario is a Crown corporation that retails and distributes alcoholic beverages throughout the Canadian province of Ontario. It is accountable to the Ministry of Finance. It was established in 1927 on the advice of Ontario Premier Howard Ferguson, to sell liquor, wine, and beer. Such sales had been banned outright in 1916 as part of prohibition in Canada; thus, the creation of the LCBO marked an easing of the province's temperance regime. By September 2017, the LCBO was operating 651 liquor stores.
  The LCBO maintained a "quasi-monopoly" on the trade in alcoholic beverage sales in Ontario for nearly a century after its creation: for most of this time, LCBO stores were the only retail outlets licensed to sell alcohol in Ontario, with the notable exceptions of beer and a number of wine shops, which had once been relatively diverse but had largely consolidated into two major chains by the 2010s: the Wine Shop and Wine Rack. Many of these independent outlets were located on-site at wineries, breweries or distilleries themselves, with Wine Shop and Wine Rack locations often located within grocery stores.
context_section_description: While it is impossible to generalize comparative pricing for the thousands of different alcoholic beverages available through LCBO, the stores have acquired a reputation for high prices. Online price comparisons with independent wine retailers such as Sherry-Lehman in neighbouring New York can indicate price differences ranging from 10% (in LCBO's favour) to 30% (in the independent retailers' favour). However, wines and spirits sold in Canada are subject to the Excise Act, 2001, which contributes greatly to the cost of beverage alcohol, although most liquor tax is provincial.  Wine Access, a Canadian food and wine magazine, has claimed that high-end luxury brands sell in Ontario for up to 60% more than in New York. Excise duties on beer and malt liquor are taxed under the Excise Act.
  The LCBO pricing policies are designed to control alcohol consumption, generate revenue for the provincial and federal governments, and to support the domestic alcohol beverage industry, especially by providing incentive to purchase Ontario wine. Within this framework, the prices of LCBO products are subject to three policy constraints:
  All prices are uniform throughout the province, despite inevitable differential costs incurred by transportation and distribution. This policy effectively subsidizes the transportation of goods into the rural parts of the province. However, store managers have the right to reduce prices of 'bin-end' items at their discretion.
  The LCBO uses a system of "floor pricing", or minimum selling prices, using price control as part of its social responsibility mandate to discourage excessive alcohol consumption.  This has been criticized as being a legally sanctioned price fixing mechanism to guarantee profits and discourage price competition, thus protecting established major producers.
  Less-intoxicating beverages such as light wines and beer are in effect sold by the LCBO at reduced prices, again with the stated object of influencing consumption patterns as part of the Board's social responsibility mandate.
caption: An LCBO store in Markham, Ontario
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