Manitoba sales for liquor, cannabis up, but COVID-19 causes drop in gambling revenue

Manitobans spent more on cannabis and alcohol in the 2019-20 fiscal year, according to Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corporation's annual report but spendingon lottery tickets, VLTs and at casinos dropped.

Cannabis operations revenues were increased by about $24.5 million, to $51.4 million,in the first full year after the sale of non-medical cannabis was legalized in October 2018, according to the Crown agency'sannual report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020.

During the year, nine more private cannabisretail locationsopened in the province, for atotal of 29 locations.

According to the report, the corporation which is responsible forthe sale of liquor and gaming products, and forthe supply and distribution of cannabis in the provincehad a net income of more than $606 million in 2019-20.

That's downfrom a net income of just over $616million the previous year.

Liquor revenues increased by $13 million over the prior year, with mostof the increase occurring in Liquor Marts.

Casino revenues went down by $8.6 million compared to the previous yearbecause of closures on March 18 of both Club Regent Casino and McPhillips Station Casino in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report.

Revenues from video lottery terminalsdropped $1.3 million due to reduced play in March, the report says,as VLT players were told to physically distanceto reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.

BeforeMarch, though, all gaming had been trending higher than the year before.