Although prominent Canadian gambling experts predicted a bright future to the local gaming industry, the latest data, concerning the revenue of major gaming hubs in Manitoba, proves that their forecast was not too precise.
The announcement about the total income for the fiscal 2013-2014 didn’t make the authorities satisfied with the goals achieved and what is worse, they are not too optimistic about the future development of the gaming industry in Manitoba anymore.
According to the released data, the revenue is 20 percent less than the expected amount. In other words, the gambling industry lost almost $70 million. The government expected an income of $346 million but these expectations were not met and the exact amount of the revenue is $278 million.
Many people consider the cold winter to be a main reason for the downfall. Record “soul – crushing” temperatures were reported, which, respectively decreased the number of people who were willing to go out and indulge themselves in entertaining gambling activities. Of course, the freezing temperatures posed a bother to the casinos, located at Winnipeg and they had also experienced a drawback in the revenue.
Despite the fact that the cold weather was said to be one of the reasons for the downfall, it is definitely not the most significant one. The spokesperson of the Crown company commented that according to her, the most sensible explanation for the drop is the delay in the distribution of the video lottery machines that were intended to boost the local economy and respectively the annual income of the local gaming industry.
However, such a setback is not something that can be prevented or avoided. Everyone, involved in distributing and manufacturing gambling facilities, would agree that these issues are common simply because the entire project is too complicated. Susan Olynik said that the company has purchased lottery machines from three suppliers.
Last year, Crown authorities invested a considerable sum of money into establishing a new small casino in the downtown area and it was managed by the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets authorities.
The sales of the lottery tickets were also problematic during the past fiscal year and Olynik said that the factor that caused the downfall was the small amount of money, the player who eventually hits the jackpot, would had won.
When the amounts of the jackpots are impressive, there is a tendency for increasing the lottery ticket sales, which automatically boosts the revenue.
Manitoba was one of the Canadian regions that was affected by the increased popularity of the online gambling platforms. It is a well known fact that Manitoba has its own website, available on the regulated gaming market.
Although the gambling activities in Manitoba didn’t live up to the expectations of the experts, another statistics show that Manitobans were likely to drink more alcoholic beverages during the past year. According to the data, the revenue of the liquor corporations was marked by a significant progress.
