Loto-Québec President and CEO Jean-Francois Bergeron has praised the company’s ‘talented, skilled and dedicated employees’ for driving a strong year of growth despite significant challenges posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Publishing its full-year accounts for FY2021-22, Loto-Québec posted total revenues of $2.22bn, up 57.5% YoY. This was driven by lottery revenues surpassing $1bn for the first time, increasing 21.6% thanks to ‘exceptional sequences of major jackpots and prize pool records’.
Online lottery game revenues stood at $4.2m, which was attributed to online infrastructure improvements and online gaming revenues. This, it said, now represents 12% of total lottery revenues compared to 4.2% two years ago.
This strong lottery performance helped Loto-Québec reach 81% of pre-pandemic total revenues and 84% of pre-pandemic consolidated net income. Meanwhile, consolidated net income reached $1.14bn, up 149.8% from a pandemic-ridden 2020-21.
Bergeron commented: “Since my arrival, I’ve been able to discover the full extent of Loto-Québec’s range of products and services, but more importantly, the scope of its contributions, and it’s truly impressive. Everything we do benefits the people of Québec, and that goes far beyond the $1.12bn dividends we plan to contribute to the government this year.
“Our excellent results were achieved by talented, skilled, and dedicated employees. They’ve shown determination and that they’ve been able to adapt, particularly when operations resumed following closures on two occasions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m very proud and, above all, extremely satisfied with the efforts made by all teams. All of Québec benefits.”
In other corporate divisions, the casino and gaming hall sector saw revenues reach $657.2m, an increase of 96.9% YoY, with venues open approximately 60% of the year despite a number of restrictions being in place.
The lottery noted that the improved website offering helped to sustain online casino growth, with revenues from this source reaching $18.4m, up 7.4% YoY. Online casino revenue totalled 40.4% of casino and gaming hall revenues, compared to 10.1% pre-pandemic.
The online gaming sector generated $390.9m from both lottery and casino games, up 6.1% YoY.
Operationally, Loto-Québec launched its first charitable lottery game ‘Loto-o-suivant’ which yielded $750,000 for winners and an equal amount to non-profit organisations across the province of Québec.
Furthermore, the lottery unveiled a campaign to keep players safe from unlicensed operators, reminding them that Loto-Québec is the only legal casino and sports betting website in the province.
Bergeron added: “During the last fiscal year, we gave away close to $1.5 billion in prizes to lottery winners, including 131 prizes worth $1 million or more, which were all-time highs. We also made $356 million in purchases from local businesses and paid $268 million in commissions to our Québec business partners.
In addition, we contributed more than $10 million to various non-profit organisations, and our sponsorship program helped to support some 50 events across Québec.”