Scratch and win Pollard Banknote transformation, success helps power philanthropic endeavours Made in Manitoba
By: Aaron Epp Posted: 6:42 PM CDT Thursday, Jul. 4, 2024

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This article was published 04/07/2024 (744 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The story of Pollard Banknote is one of transformation.

Eight years ago, 100 per cent of the Winnipeg company’s business came from printing instant-win tickets for lotteries and charitable organizations around the world. Today, printing makes up just half; the digital offerings and solutions it provides its customers make up the rest.

“It is a very different company today in 2024 than it was in 2016,” says Doug Pollard, who serves as co-chief executive officer, alongside older brother John.

To get a sense of Pollard Banknote’s success, one need look no further than the numbers.

Since the company started printing scratch-and-win tickets in 1986, it has grown into the second-largest such producer in the world and third-largest lottery product supplier.

In the last eight years, its workforce has grown to 2,300 employees from 1,150 — with 900 at its corporate head office in the Fort Garry neighbourhood and the rest spread over 11 facilities across North America and Europe.

In that same period, Pollard Banknote has more than doubled its annual revenue: to $600 million from $250 million.

It produces 15 billion tickets annually and serves more than 60 lottery and charitable gaming organizations worldwide.

“What’s important for us is not just to be successful financially, but to do it the right way,” Doug says. “And to do it in a way that I think is consistent with our history and in a way that we can be proud of and that our whole team of 2,000-plus employees can be proud of.”

The transformation of the last eight years is not the company’s first.

Started in 1907 as Saults and Pollard, the company was a commercial print shop. Prior to moving to its Otter Street headquarters, it was located in the same building at 300 Carlton St. that housed the Manitoba Free Press.

John and Doug’s father, Lawrie, became the third generation to join the family company when he started work in 1947 at age 19. Lawrie became president in 1963, following his father’s premature death.

In the 1970s, Lawrie sensed the heyday of commercial printing was coming to an end and the company needed to produce something else.

He tried printing cheques, financial security documents and standardized tests before thinking he would try banknotes.

He even changed the name of the company to reflect this new endeavour. But then the federal government announced the $1 coin would replace the $1 bill and he had to nix that idea.

“We’re probably the only company in the world that’s named for a product that they’ve never made a single one of,” John says. “We’ve never printed a banknote in our lives.”

Lawrie decided to gamble on scratch-and-win tickets.

In his late 50s, when he could have been thinking about retirement, he took out a second mortgage on his house and a multimillion-dollar bank loan to buy new machinery.

It ended up being a winning move. From 1986 to 2016, Pollard Banknote’s annual revenue grew to $250 million from $5 million.

Although he retired in 1993, Lawrie still showed up to the office every day, until his death in 2019.

Doug recalls how Lawrie would sit down in his or John’s office wanting to talk business. Often, his question for his sons would be: “What’s next?”

“I think he’d always asked himself the same question,” Doug says.

Asking and answering that question is what has led to the company’s transformation over the last eight years.

Pollard’s business is no longer focused solely on printing instant tickets — not because sales of those tickets are declining but because the company has recognized and seized an opportunity to move into the digital space, which complements its other endeavours.

Its digital solutions include mobile application development, interactive games, iLottery systems and software to help lotteries manage their operations.

For the Pollard brothers, the changes are consistent with a vision of helping others that was articulated when the company was founded 117 years ago.

They are quick to credit their employees with the company’s success.

Lawrie taught his sons to hire good people, treat them well and trust them to get the job done.

Lawrie regularly checked in with employees and asked them for their opinions and ideas. He took a bottom-up management approach, John says, before bottom-up management became fashionable.

The Pollard brothers try to do the same today.

When Doug refers to being financially successful “the right way,” he’s referring to creating a good place to work where employees are treated with respect and empowered to do their best.

In the 1980s, Lawrie instituted a profit-sharing plan that continues to this day. Every quarter, employees receive a share of 10 per cent of the company’s profits.

“To the extent that this company’s transformed, it sure as hell is not because of the two of us,” Doug says. “The real work is getting done by all these other people.”

“To the extent that this company’s transformed, it sure as hell is not because of the two of us. The real work is getting done by all these other people.”–Doug Pollard

So what’s next?

“We are very well-aware that we have challenged our team,” Doug says. “I feel like we’re still very much digesting what’s been a very big transformative period over the last few years, and we’re not done getting through that.”

John adds two things. One is a fifth generation of Pollards — two of his children and two of elder brother Gordon’s children — have joined the company.

The second is each Pollard brother is pursuing philanthropic endeavours.

John is a director of the Winnipeg Foundation and president of Pulford Community Living Services.

His love for old buildings led him to purchase the Fortune Building on the corner of Main Street and St. Mary Avenue (home of the Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club) which he restored to its former glory along with the McDonald Building next door and Winnipeg Hotel further down Main Street.

Doug chairs the board of directors of the Assiniboine Park Conservancy and co-chaired United Way Winnipeg’s 2023 campaign with his wife, Kristie Pearson.

Additionally, the Pollard family donated more than $4 million toward the development of a three-storey, 47-micro-suite apartment building for those living with mental health concerns and addictions.

The Ross Ellen Housing Complex opened in June 2023.

“I certainly hope that our employees see that and are proud of it, too … and that it makes them feel a little better about the people they’re working with,” Doug says.

“We’ve had this unbelievable community of Winnipeg that’s given us these super smart people and this environment to thrive and grow in,” John adds. “So you really look at giving back to the community.”

The Pollards are grateful for the company’s good fortune.

“We’ve had more wins than losses — let’s put it that way,” Doug says. “We’ve done really well.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca