(Montreal) Loto-Québec on Wednesday posted revenue up more than 57% year-on-year and a net result improved by nearly 150% for its 2021-2022 fiscal year, but it has not yet returned to its levels. pre-pandemic, even though its lottery sector recorded the best results in its history.
Posted at 2:11 p.m.
The consolidated net income of the state-owned company thus reached 1.143 billion, whereas it had been 457.6 million a year earlier. This growth enables Loto-Québec to reach its budget target and pay the government a dividend of $1.118 billion.
Loto-Québec’s revenues amounted to $2.2 billion in the most recent fiscal year ended March 31, compared with $1.4 billion a year earlier.
Loto-Québec’s revenues and net income thus reached 81% and 84% respectively of their pre-pandemic level, i.e. in 2019-2020, while the establishments were open for approximately 60% during the most recent fiscal year. .
The company said it took advantage of the pandemic shutdowns to “optimize its operations,” which saw its expense-to-revenue ratio drop to 29.4%, its lowest level since its inception. This ratio was $33.0 in 2019-2020.
Lottery industry revenue topped the $1 billion mark for the first time and reached $1.043 billion. This represented an increase of 21.6% from the previous fiscal year and a growth of 12.3% from the pre-pandemic fiscal year of 2019-2020.
The casinos and gaming halls sector saw its revenues grow by 96.9% year-on-year to reach 657.2 million, which was 68% of the 2019-2020 level. Loto-Québec partly explained this increase by the higher number of opening days than during the previous year.
The gaming establishments sector, which includes video lottery terminals in the bar network as well as bingo and Kinzo halls, recorded revenues of 524.1 million, up 141.1% compared to last year, which Loto-Québec attributed in particular to the higher number of opening days than during the previous year.
Revenues from this sector were at 60% of their levels for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, Loto-Québec said. The company recalled that the bar network was struggling, having been heavily impacted by the effects of the pandemic, which influenced revenues from video lottery terminals.
Products offered on Loto-Québec’s website totaled $390.9 million in the most recent fiscal year, up 6.1% year-on-year. These revenues represent 17.6% of the company’s total revenues, whereas they represented only 5.0% in 2019-2020.
“Many consumers continued to gamble online even though retail lottery sales were available throughout the fiscal year and casinos and gaming halls were open for more days than in 2020-21,” the company noted in its annual report. Loto-Québec attributed this progress to efforts made to improve its website and ensure its competitiveness with illegal sites.