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The pandemic continues to abuse the finances of Loto-Québec, of which only the Casino de Mont-Tremblant is still open. With the closure of the Casino de Charlevoix, 2,335 state-owned employees have now been temporarily dismissed due to the reconfinement.
This number does not include workers who were also laid off in July due to declining services and supply at gambling establishments. This is a total of 4,271 employees at Loto-Quebec, or more than 70% of the workforce before the pandemic, who lost their jobs for an indefinite period.
“The Company is aware of the impacts experienced by the affected employees and it is reluctantly that Loto-Québec has had to proceed with temporary layoffs,” said spokesperson Marisol Schnorr.
Unlike the first confinement, Loto-Quebec has however chosen this time not to pay the full salary to its dismissed workers.
Red zone
This week, the government announced that the Charlevoix region was also going on red alert as of today. This decision forced Loto-Québec to put several of its activities in this sector on hiatus.
Since July, the Casino de Charlevoix was open from Thursday to Sunday. As is also the case in other regions in the red zone, the Crown corporation has suspended its offer of video lottery terminals. It is also no longer possible to play network bingo since Saturday or Kinzo.
Today, the casinos in Montreal, Lac-Leamy and Charlevoix as well as the gaming halls in Quebec and Trois-Rivières are all closed.
It should be noted that Loto-Québec still maintains its online games offer on Espacejeux.com as well as the sale of lotteries across the province.
As a physical establishment, only the Casino de Mont-Tremblant remains to replenish the coffers of the state corporation. After the Trois-Rivières Games Room, this is the site that recorded the lowest revenues during the 2018-2019 fiscal year, i.e. $ 19.36 million.
Yesterday, several time slots allowing consumers to access the Casino de Mont-Tremblant facilities were still available for the next few days on the establishment’s reservation site.
Heavy losses
During the first confinement, Loto-Quebec saw nearly a financial quarter of revenue soar. The shortfall for this period is expected to amount to over half a billion dollars.
Loto-Québec has still not released the financial results for its first quarter 2020-2021, which covers the first months of the pandemic.
The crown corporation has already announced that no incentive compensation will be paid to executives for the 2020-2021 fiscal year as well as a salary freeze.
