British Columbia’s Online Gambling is Thriving
The rise of mobile casino gambling and the successful introduction of live dealer casinos have been cited as two major reasons that the province of British Columbia has reported record-breaking profits for its government-run online gambling site. Revenue was up across the board for the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), including all their land casinos and bingo halls, but the biggest leap was for the official online casino site PlayNow.com.
PlayNow has seen an increase of 14.5 per cent, bringing revenue for the fiscal year ending in March 2018 to C$180.6m. Net income for the whole sector was given as C$1.4b. The strong performance of BCLC’s online gambling was linked to increased access for the mobile gaming market, which continues to go from strength to strength, and to the launch of Evolution Gaming’s live dealer platform in January.
Mixed Fortunes for Land Casinos and Lottery
Although profits were up for land casinos, the majority of this came from slots rather than table games. The reason for this is thought to be the ongoing investigation into money laundering that has focused in particular on the River Rock Casino in Richmond. Meanwhile, lottery profits have remained stagnant, perhaps due to a lack of enticing jackpot amounts.
Uncertain Future
While these results are doubtless encouraging for the Crown Corporation, questions remain over where BCLC can go from here. PlayNow is only open to BC residents, which is a pool of fewer than five million people. While profits were up, the number of registered players remained the same as in the previous year, raising concerns that the site has reached the maximum number of subscribers. In order to see any future growth, it would be necessary for the currently registered players to increase the amount of money they spend on the site.
BCLC are certainly looking into options to encourage more residents to join their online site. In November 2017 a scheme was piloted in BC’s gambling venues, where players received a C$25 voucher redeemable on PlayNow, hoping to boost sign ups. The vouchers are distributed from 33 of the province’s 40 retail gaming locations, and plans are underway to increase availability.
Commercial Competition
The regional online casinos are at a disadvantage in many ways, as they struggle to compete with the offers and jackpots available from private online and mobile casino sites. The lack of federal control over the market leaves the law open to interpretation, and some provinces have reacted by trying to impose their own restrictions and protect state interests. British Columbia has shown that by creating an attractive product and making it available to mobile users, it’s possible to attract patrons. However, the issue remains that the audience is limited, and competition increases by the day as more and more casino sites break into the Canadian market. What local governments propose to do in the future remains to be seen, but BC’s recent success can be held as an example of how provinces can provide a better service for their citizens.
