Even an order from Chief Medical Officer Dr. Janice Fitzgerald can’t
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The province prohibited the sale of scratch and break open tickets in
stores as of March 30 in an effort to limit the spread of the COVID-19
virus, but since the pandemic began, online lottery sales at alc.ca have
increased by roughly five times, according to Atlantic Lottery
Corporation CEO Chris Keevill.
Keevill said despite that “quite striking” jump online, overall sales have still decreased 10 per cent.
“The Atlantic Lottery business has seen a drop, but not nearly as far as
many of the other lotteries across Canada. So, we’ve seen a dip, but
not as deep a dip. And one of the reasons, probably the primary reason
for that, is Atlantic Lottery has quite a robust digital platform,” said
Keevill.
“It’s a more developed e-commerce platform for buying your 6/49 or Lotto
Max ticket, check your winning numbers, or play a number of digital
instant games that are available for play on alc.ca. So, because of
that, we’ve seen a big jump in the sign-up for customers on alc.ca, and
we’ve seen a big lift in our online sales. So, that has made up for a
lot of the dip in the traditional retail space.”At alc.ca, people can
create an account and buy tickets through a subscription. All of the
major draw games are available on the website, as well as digital
instant games which are comparable to scratch tickets except in digital
form.
Keevill said the digital transformation of the gaming business for
Atlantic Lottery has been in the works for roughly five years, but the
pandemic has accelerated it “with everyone at home, and having the
opportunity to sign up online,” he explained.
“Atlantic Lottery’s a bit fortunate because before my time, the people
that came before me had the foresight to build quite a robust e-commerce
platform in the business, and we lead the country in that regard, in
fact.
“And so that’s what’s allowed us to keep more of our business during the
pandemic when compared to the lotteries in other parts of the country
who have seen much greater declines because they weren’t able to make it
up on the digital side.”
He said the growth in online sales during the pandemic has given
Atlantic Lottery encouragement and confidence to invest more assertively
in its digital games.
The 10 per cent slump, however, means less money coming back to the provincial coffers.
Atlantic Lottery brings in hefty amounts for the Atlantic provincial
government shareholders. For example, according to alc.ca, in 2018-2019
Atlantic Lottery returned $422.2 million to provincial governments.
The breakdown by province was $138.6 million for Nova Scotia, $130
million for New Brunswick, $135.4 million for Newfoundland and Labrador,
and $18.3 million for Prince Edward Island.
“There’s no doubt there’s going to be, in the short term, less to offer back to the province,” said Keevill.
“But we are encouraged that the players are migrating to this new
(online) platform, and we certainly have every intention to get back on
track to provide the funds that are important to the province.”
Newfoundland and Labrador had the only government-mandated suspension of
lottery sales in Atlantic Canada, but some retailers made the decision
to discontinue lottery sales anyway, such as Sobeys and Loblaw. However,
within the last week, many such retailers have reopened their lottery
sales.
The Wall