Online gambling shines in Quebec’s gambling monopoly half-year

The Canadian province of Quebec has become notorious for its protectionist legislative moves to shield its cosy online gambling monopoly Espacejeux.com from competition, and parent group Loto Quebec’s half-yearly performance numbers explain why; among the financial results was a 25 percent rise in revenues from the online gambling operation.

Loto Quebec’s current fiscal half year results were released this week, with the group reporting overall revenue of Cdn$ 1.75 billion to end September 2016. That represents little in the way of actual revenue growth, and the 3.5 percent rise in profit to Cdn$ 639 million came mainly from tougher cost control measures instigated by management.

That could explain the importance Loto attaches to keeping competition away from the online activity at Espacejeux, which outperformed the rest of the group in terms of growth to deliver the revenue rise to Cdn$ 35.2 million, auguring well for the full year results to overtake last year’s total of Cdn$66.2 million.

The core lottery operations of Loto Quebec saw revenue dip 2.3 percent year-on-year to Cdn$ 852.6 million, whilst its terrestrial casino operations reported revenue up y-o-y just 5 percent to Cdn$ 421.4 million, and gaming hall revenues squeaked a 1 percent rise to a still-substantial Cdn$ 491 million.

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