Layoffs, spending cuts as B.C. Lottery Corporation juggles finances

KAMLOOPS – Luck has run out for 67 workers at the B.C. Lottery Corporation as it reorganizes following the departure of former CEO Michael Graydon.

The workers, 29 of them at Crown corporation's head office in Kamloops, have been laid off.

Interim CEO and President Jim Lightbody says the layoffs were prompted by significant financial pressures.

He blames those pressures on a maturing market, increasing costs and flat revenues.

“We are going through the process to ensure we’re properly focused on our business priorities, operating efficiently and set up for growth in the long term,” he said, in a media release Friday.

Along with the layoffs, marketing and advertising expenses have been sliced 23 per cent, contracts with suppliers have been renegotiated and the BCLC fleet program is cancelled.

Lightbody said the cuts are expected to save the corporation as much as $20-million.

“These kinds of decisions are difficult for any business, but they are the right decisions to best position BCLC to continue delivering strong net income to benefit British Columbians,” he said.

The Lottery Corporation has a net income of more than $1 billion each year.