Loto-Québec’s latest financial statistics suggest that the Crown corporation is close to its pre-unprecedented situation levels of performance. On March 8, 2022, the agency published its third-quarter financial numbers for 2021, which applies for the period of September 28, 2021, through December, just before its most recent closure of brick-and-mortar facilities across Quebec.
A small sample of the company’s highlights in Q3 includes the opening of the Salon de jeux de Québec at its new location in the Méga Centre Beauport, which welcomed its first guests on November 29, 2021. Also, the Crown’s Hilton Lac-Leamy celebrated its 20th anniversary on October 8, 2021. It has also introduced Loto-o-suivant, which is the corporation’s first charity lottery game.
Q3 Results
According to the Q3 reports, Loto-Québec has had a very prolific quarter, as its total revenues and consolidated net income reached 90% and 94% respectively of their pre-unprecedented situation levels of 2019-2020. For Q3 of 2021-2022, the corporation reported total revenues of CA$619.9 million and consolidated net income of CA$324.7 million. This is respectively 70.1% and 120.9% over last year’s same quarter.
Online gaming activities have also improved for the Crown corporation as it reported iGaming revenue was up by CA$1.3 million or 2.1%. However, this rate is slower since land-based gaming properties were operational for Q3, and gamblers were not limited to iGaming offerings. Overall, online revenue captured 30.3% of total casino revenue, which was only at 9.4% for the same period in 2019-20.
In addition to that, President and CEO of the Crown agency, Jean-Francois Bergeron insisted that the corporation has the needed tools to protect itself from Russian cyberattacks. Mr. Bergeron shared that the company experiences hundred of attacks every day but its teams are successfully reflecting them and that the company is also on alert for such potential threats.
This statement was in regards to the Crown’s decision to support Ukraine in the conflict and stopped taking sports wagers on Russian sports events. The Corporation further explains that this does not affect athletes of Russian origin who play for another team. According to the corporation, the removal of Russian games is around 5% of the total volume of sports bets.
Collab with High 5 Games
This week, Loto-Québec has also announced that it has inked a content distribution agreement with a leading US-based slot provider, High 5 Games. This agreement will allow the Crown to further enrich its gaming portfolio on lotoquebec.com, and soon players will be able to enjoy some of the supplier’s greatest hits, such as Triple and Quadruple Double da Vinci Diamonds, Secrets of the Forest Extreme, and even more.
Partnership Now Extended
At the end of February, the Crown organization revealed that it has agreed to a contract extension with Instant Win Gaming. The latter is an established provider of e-Instant games to NASPL/WLA-member lotteries. And through this agreement, the company will continue to be the lottery’s main provider of e-Instant titles for the years to come.
Source: “Third quarter of the 2021-2022 fiscal year – Loto-Québec presents strong results”, Yahoo, March 8, 2022
