Booze sales up, casino revenue crashes: MLL

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/12/2020 (2065 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Turns out that during a pandemic, Manitobans drink more, buy more lottery tickets, and consume more marijuana.

At the same time, due to public health restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 that have shuttered casinos and closed bars and lounges (home to VLTs) for long stretches, Manitobans haven’t been gambling nearly as much.

The figures are in Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corp.’s latest quarterly report, released this week.

The Crown corporation’s liquor operations reported a $23.1-million bump during the six months from April 1 to Sept. 30. In that time, online gambling had an almost $15-million increase, and lottery revenue went up $3.2 million. Cannabis revenue increased $2.6 million.

The ledger wasn’t as good for casinos, which had a dramatic decrease in income of more than $64 million, and VLTs, which dropped by $58.3 million.

It adds up to $251.1 million in total income by MLL, down from the almost $330 million reported during the same period last year.

Overall revenue dropped $113.4 million, while operating expenses also went down $21.4 million.

Even with the uncertainty of the pandemic, MLL was left with more than $78 million in cash at the end of the period, compared with last year’s $37 million.

In a statement, Manny Atwal, president and CEO, said: “We finished the first six months of fiscal 2020-21 with year-over-year growth of net income in liquor sales, lottery tickets and PlayNow.com, as well as cannabis distribution.

“At the same time, we reached all-time lows for revenues from our casinos and VLT network directly related to the COVID‐19 pandemic response which has required closures for VLT sites and casinos.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca