Online gambling revenues boost Loto Quebec results

Revenues from Loto-Quebec’s recent venture into online gambling helped ameliorate group declines in revenues, according to the provincial government company’s latest results.
Espacejeux.com revenues of Cdn$4.5 million helped bolster results in which the group reported a decline of almost 4 percent in first quarter of 2011 revenues despite an infusion of new money from the online gambling venture.
The provincial gambling corporation generated $882.3 million in revenue in the first 88 days of its 2011 fiscal year, compared to $916.8 million for the first 89 days of 2010, the Montreal Gazette reported this week.
Net quarterly profit dropped almost six percent year-over-year, to $328.6 million from $347.6 million.
CEO Alain Cousineau reported that lower gambling revenues were largely anticipated and had been signalled to the Quebec provincial government.
“In general, the first quarter results are consistent with our expectations,” Cousineau said in a statement.
Only the Bingo sector saw an increase in year-over-year revenue, with the top-line jumping 5.6 percent to $8 million, largely due to the new Kinzo game and Kinzo rooms.
Revenue from lottery products dropped 5.1 percent to $427.7 million, while casino revenue dipped 4.6 percent to almost $207.4 million.
Quarterly revenue from video lottery terminals dropped to $242.8 million from $250.1 million, year-over year. That could be explained in part, the corporation said, by the additional day of revenue in fiscal 2010. One day of revenue from VLTs is about $3.8 million, it said.
Cousineau will leave his post as Loto-Québec CEO on November 6, to be replaced by Gérard Bibeau, a provincial bureaucrat described as the most senior official in Quebec’s public administration.

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