Challenges take their toll as Loto-Québec focuses on business restart

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Loto-Québec has recorded a significant decrease in revenue for the 2020/21 fiscal year, primarily due to the suspension of much of the group’s commercial operations during the timeframe.

With casinos and gaming halls shut down, some of which were closed for over nine months, the corporation also halted much of its video lottery, network bingo and Kinzo operations and stopped lottery ticket sales at retail locations for some weeks.

As a result, revenue decreased 48.6 per cent to CA$1.4bn from CA$2.74bn, with consolidated net income down 66.2 per cent from CA1.35bn to CA$457.6bn.

Of all the sectors, Loto-Québec says that lottery was the least affected by the pandemic, with a 7.4 per cent decrease in revenues compared to the previous fiscal year. Instant lottery games saw revenue grow, in part due to the addition of new online games.

Casinos and gaming halls were closed for much of the year and, as a result, revenue dropped 65.6 per cent, with the group’s ‘gaming establishment’ sector, which includes video lottery terminals in bars, as well as bingo and Kinzo, also seeing activities suspended, which brought a 75.1 per cent decrease.

“Several of Loto-Québec’s commercial activities were suspended for much of the year due to the COVID–19 pandemic, which had a significant impact on revenues and net income. The corporation nevertheless paid a dividend of $432.6m to the government of Québec,” noted Lynne Roiter, outgoing president and CEO of Loto-Québec.

Looking forward, the group’s 2020-2023 strategic plan has outlined expansion across the four core areas of increasing consumer knowledge, offering a wide and quality range of gaming options, maintaining a strong commitment to the community, and continually improving its performance.

“This past year brought its share of challenges for the teams. However, the actions taken made it possible to limit the financial impact of the corporation’s activities being suspended,” added Jean-François Bergeron, president and CEO of Loto-Québec.

“We can now focus our energy on gradually resuming all business segments of the corporation – casinos and gaming halls, video lottery terminals, network bingo and Kinzo – now that the lockdown is being lifted. The corporation can therefore look to the coming year with much greater optimism.”