Loto-Québec plans to sell self-service tickets

Before long, Loto-Québec hopes to be able to sell its lottery tickets using self-checkout at grocery stores and other retail outlets in the province.

In an interview with NewspaperOn the occasion of presenting the results of the second quarter, the president and CEO of the state-owned company, Jean-François Bergeron, admitted that the idea had been under consideration for some time. And that since August, these terminals have already been tested at its main office in Montreal.

“The idea is not to replace the kiosks that are in malls, or even the ticket counters that are in convenience stores or grocery stores,” he said. But rather to adapt to current practices, which are becoming increasingly automated.

ticket with that?

Since August, the pilot project has also allowed Loto-Québec to evaluate how to integrate the sale of lottery tickets into self-service checkouts at grocery stores, without slowing down traffic flow.

Have you ever been asked if you want to donate to charity when paying for your groceries? The day will undoubtedly come when you will also be asked if you would like to present yourself a lottery ticket to complete your grocery shopping?

Forbidden to minors

For now, the Crown Foundation remains silent on the budget for this initiative, as well as the planned timeline for its implementation. Also silent when asked if it intends to add its own electronic payments or even integrate those already in stores?

On all of these questions, the company merely says that it has “initiated discussions” with “large chains” (Metro, Costco, etc.), and specifies that if set up, the agent must be on site to ensure that ticket buyers have reached the age of majority.

Results arrive

At the end of the first six months of the 2022-2023 fiscal year, Lotto Quebec expects to return to the good years before the pandemic period in 2020 and 2021.

“We remain on track to reach and even exceed our budget target,” said Mr. Bergeron. (…) Despite our enthusiasm, we remain cautious in light of the changing economic context.”

Its net profit in the first half amounted to 805.3 million dollars, an increase of 37.9% over the previous year, and its sales amounted to 1.47 billion dollars, an increase of 35.4%.

Compared to the first half of the fiscal year prior to the pandemic, i.e. 2019-2020, we are talking about related increases of 9.4% in earnings and 3.5% in revenue.