The Future of Lottery Looks Bright with BCLC's Lotto! app
20200729
BCLC is a provincial Crown corporation based in British Columbia, Canada, which partners with mkodo to offer socially responsible, regulated digital lottery entertainment through the BCLC Lotto! app. The organization also offers lottery products through more than 3,500 lottery retailers and is responsible for gambling entertainment at casinos and community gaming centres and on PlayNow.com.
The Province of B.C. founded BCLC 35 years ago with the purpose of giving back to British Columbians. Since then, the organization has delivered more than $23 billion to communities, provincial programs and services, charities and major events through the revenue earned from lottery and casino gambling. In fiscal year 2018/19, for instance, BCLC contributed $1.4 billion in net revenue back to the Province of B.C.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, temporary store closures and physical-distancing requirements have highlighted the importance and convenience of BCLC’s digital lottery products. Since the onset of the pandemic, ticket scans on the Lotto! app have increased by 38 per cent as compared to the same period last year. The Lotto! app is on track to surpass one million downloads in 2020 and so far this year has attained triple-digit, year-over-year sales growth.
Government in B.C. earmarks lottery revenue for provincial and federal services, such as public health and education, especially important now as B.C. and Canada grapple with the new health, social and economic implications resulting from the pandemic.
In addition to supporting health care and education across B.C., the Provincial government allocates $140 million of gambling revenue annually for its Community Gaming Grants program. Community Gaming Grants help support 5,000 community organizations that deliver arts and culture, sport, environment, public safety, human and social services.
BCLC shares in this provincial commitment to supporting communities, and has a proud tradition of supporting community celebrations dating back to Expo ’86, the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and 2015 Canada Winter Games. Recently, BCLC was an official partner of the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship hosted in Vancouver and Victoria from December 26, 2018 – January 5, 2019.
Offering players a convenient and fun-to-use digital purchase experience is a priority for BCLC. A key part of our corporate strategy is looking at how to better align our bricks & mortar purchase experience for players with our online offerings. As highlighted by COVID-19, online/app product availability and ease of purchase are of paramount importance to the future of many industries, including lottery.
For more information about mkodo's work with BCLC, click here
