As per the information received from the Crown agency, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation has released over CA$859 million in the form of lottery prizes in 2023. The amount was with regards to over 101 million winning tickets that were sold via retail outlets, as well as on PlayNow.com, which is the corporation’s own iGaming platform. Incidentally, this is a tradition that has been carried out for a long time now.
BCLC, for its part, is a government-run and socially-oriented organization that provides gambling-related entertainment. Furthermore, it approaches the gambling scenario so that all parties involved have something to gain. It operates the only licensed gaming provider in British Columbia, PlayNow, an online gambling platform. The revenue accumulated is used to fund initiatives in education, healthcare, and community activities in British Columbia.
In 2023, the entire focus was on Scott Gurney of Sydney, who managed to walk away with a CA$55 million jackpot from Lotto Max. His winning ticket belonged to the draw held on February 28, 2023. This turned out to be a record-breaking win in 2023.
In terms of winnings, the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley were the recipients of CA$459.9 million in prizes and 45.5 million in the form of retrieved winning tickets. Furthermore, they distributed CA$500,000 in the form of 34 grand awards. Meanwhile, the Northern B.C. area distributed CA$59.5 million in prizes won by 9.4 million winning tickets, as well as two CA$500,000 prizes.
In addition, lottery jackpots in the Thompson Okanagan region totaled 144 million Canadian dollars in 2023. In addition to the 141.1 million winning tickets, six individuals received CA$500,000 in prizes. The Kootenay region yielded 4 million winning tickets and a total of $24.4 million in rewards. Furthermore, two cash deposits totaling CA$500,000 were executed.
From the online Canadian gambling news, Vancouver Island saw CA$112.3 million in the form of lottery winnings. This made it the third-in-line deliverer of prize money to its players, the claimants being 17.8 million holders of winning tickets bought from retail outlets and online. The offer consisted of 13 grand prizes amounting to CA$500,000.
A short while ago, BCLC released its yearly service plan and accountability report pertaining to fiscal 2022–23. It revealed the fact that for the FY, the Crown agency forwarded net earnings of CA$1.636 billion. Out of this, almost CA$1.624 billion went towards the Province of British Columbia, and the federal government received CA$12 million.
The revenue generation increase is attributed to the new Cascades Casino Delta, which was introduced in September 2022. Further to that was the delivery of the new Lotto 6/49, along with the incorporation of PlayNow by a third province in Canada.
