The Quebec provincial government needed to resort to delaying a few social events owing to the massive number of Covid cases. Loto-Québec stated that all casino locations in the region would be temporarily shut down. VLTs, Kinzo, and bingo offerings in nightclubs will also be halted. The atmosphere at Loto-Québec immediately changed following the provincial government’s statement that the Crown corporation would once again halt casino operational processes. At the very same time the year before, the agency was forced to shut down casinos, displacing over 2,300 staff members. It is unclear how long the locations will be closed. Just after the province released the new strict prohibitions on Monday, Loto-Québec stated that they would evaluate the situation. The Crown’s plan seems to be to shift the majority of its staff members to customer support, as it did during the previous lockdowns.
As a result, the company should be able to retain the majority of its employees and help them find jobs during the shutdown.
Jean-François Bergeron, President, and CEO of Crown, stated that the organization has already encountered a similar emergency before and that employees know how and when to respond now. It’s hard to say how long casino locations and other businesses could be out of work.
Results for the 2nd quarter of the fiscal year 2021-22, which ended on September 27th, 2021, were released this week. Crown recently reported CA$388 million in profits for the quarter, a 58 percent increase over the same quarter last year. The corporation also reports that it is on track to meet its annual goals.
Furthermore, Mr. Bergeron stated that due to the recent regulations, the company hoped to bring back to the government 90 percent of the pre-unexpected situation earnings, which was approximately CA$1.1 billion. He went on to add that the latest shutdown will put an additional strain on the company’s financial performance, but it depends on how long the locations remain closed.
Loto-Québec stated a few weeks ago that it does not require its employees to be vaccinated. The Crown kept insisting that it is not in agreement with some other provincial organizations that have decided to make vaccinations compulsory for their employees. Mr. Bergeron stated that the corporation does not recall the precise vaccination coverage of its staff members but believes it was just around the province’s rate of 77 percent.
Lately, the company’s Casino Lac-Leamy was embroiled in a dispute over provincial health & safety regulations. According to a Radio-Canada inquiry, customers of the gaming facility did not cooperate with the provincial government’s mask regulations. Furthermore, while visitors were taking their face masks off, no member of staff alerted people to put them right on.
