Global lottery firm Pollard Banknote has posted results showing a year-on-year drop in quarterly headline figures, labelled as “very disappointing” by leadership.
For the three months ending 31 March, the firm raked in $141.7m in revenue, down 3.1% from the same period last year (Q1 ‘25: $146.2m). Adjusted EBITDA was $21.5m, a drop from the $30.6m at the start of last year.
Gross profit came in at $16.6m ($25.4m), while net income stood at $3.5m ($11.7m). Income from operations was $7.6m, a decline of 58.5% from the $18.3m in Q1 ‘25.
The company listed several reasons that led to what Co-Chief Executive Officer John Pollard described as a ‘poor financial performance’. One of them was the devaluation of the US dollar.
At the end of March, approximately 74.5% of the Canada-headquartered’s revenue was generated in US dollars – including international sales, which are again priced in US dollars.
Transferring its sales from Canada – Pollard Banknote’s home market – into US dollars at a rate of CAD $1.365 for USD $1 led to around $6.5m loss in revenue, the firm added, as the US dollar was trading at a 5.8% decreased rate from its value at the start of last year.
Additionally, a decision to lower instant ticket average selling prices due to changes in customer mix and lower proprietary product sales led to a revenue loss of $11.7m compared to Q1 ‘25.
Rays of hope for Pollard Banknote
On the flipside, the H1 ‘25 acquisition of Pacific Gaming has started to pay back through a $2.4m increase in revenue from charitable gaming volumes.
Revenue from ancillary lottery products and services was also up by $3.4m in Q1, driven by increased digital sales and Pollard’s iLottery contracts with the Belgium and Kansas lotteries.
Given the popularity of lottery products in Belgium, the 12-year contract with the local lotto worth $289m has the potential to play a core part in Pollard’s return to profitability through the rest of the year.
Pollard commented: “While the first quarter financial results were very disappointing, we are confident the remainder of 2026 will see improved results from both our instant ticket and digital areas, as well as continuing strong results from our charitable division.
“Our scheduled instant ticket volumes over the next two quarters are at the highest level in the past number of years and contain a traditional mix of our higher value specialized work.
“Our work on the Belgium Lottery gaming system has begun to ramp up in the second quarter and will continue to increase through the rest of 2026. And we believe our ongoing investment in the digital and charitable areas of our business will also lead to improved results going forward.”