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