Record Revenue For British Columbia Lottery Corporation in 18/19 Fiscal Year

2018-19 fiscal year was good to the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), which publicly revealed all-time high revenue figures for the said period. It amounted to CAD2.59 billion. This is an increase of 3.5% over the year before.

The entire gambling sector performed well over BCLC’s projections, even though land-based, non-lottery gambling and casino revenue fell slightly in the year ended on March 31st.

Slots Leading the Way

By far the biggest contributor to the revenue…

…were slots, whose contribution totaled 1.40 billion, which is a solid increase over last fiscal year’s $1.37 billion. Poker’s income also rose to 23.6 million – this is some 18.6% over $19.9 million forecast. Table games saw their revenue decline to 454.1 million (from 492.7m) but still performed better than expected.

The vertical that did not do as planned in this Canadian province was bingo, which declined to $23 million. Lottery and egaming saw their collective revenue rise to 686.1m from 596.3m. Lottery income rose to 536.3 million and by doing so sured the projections by 14.2 per cent. Egaming’s separate revenue rose to 149.8m from 119.9m.

How a Record is Set

Average revenue per capita was CAD533, which is an increase over last year’s CAD510…

…although casino and community gaming spending also rose (to 821.9m) and so did egaming costs (to 222m). Depreciation and capital asset amortization expenditures were also bigger than before: from 68.9 million to 69.6 million they rose in the previous FY, even though this was still significantly under the proposed budget of 77.6 million.

Overall, the total net income for the fiscal year for the company was a record 1.42 billion!

A Vow to Keep on Going

Petter Kappel, board chair, and Jim Lightbody, president and CEO, said about this achievement:

“Our increase in net income was achieved despite declines in revenue from labour disputes at five casino and community gaming locations and the changing table game landscape.

We were able to capitalize on opportunities, including the higher than average number of Lotto Max jackpot rolls, strong slot performance in brick-and-mortar facilities and strategic investments in new product offerings such as Live Casino on PlayNow.com.

They went on to add that they are proud of the results achieved this past year and that they will be committed to the responsible growth of the business. They vow to keep working closely with government…

… and make wise investment decisions “while looking for ways to operate the business more efficiently and effectively, in the best interest of British Columbians.”

It was also revealed that target income for fiscal year 2019-20 will be $1.41 billion, which is way below the actual figure achieved in the past fiscal year. The target revenue for 2020-21 will be $1.43 billion.

A Thoughtful Gift

PowerPlay.com had a special celebratory gift for all Canadian players this Canada Day, which is observed every July 1st…

…namely, the operator marked the occasion by giving every Canadian player $20 to play with! Evan Castille, COO of the company, said that they have come up with something a little special this year for Canada Day, something never before seen. They did so in order to give everyone in this country a chance to win big and celebrate the day in style.

Source:

“BCLC posts record revenue for 2018-19 fiscal year”, Daniel Oboyle, igbnorthamerica.com, July 22, 2019.