This week, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation’s Chair of Board of Directors, Greg Moore featured in the NL Morning News. There he spoke on the Crown’s recent decision to seek new CEO and President and shared some of the expectations of what the ideal candidate and their qualities would need to be to lead the state-run agency forward.
The BCLC is an agency that regulates all legal gambling and lottery activities in the province of British Columbia. It is headquartered in Kamloops, and all revenue from its gaming proceeds is reinvested into the province’s infrastructure, communities, education, and healthcare. Revenue from its online platform PlayNow is also reinvested into the province’s economy.
The Next Leader
In his appearance, Mr. Moore shared a few thoughts and predictions on what the ideal new President and CEO of the BCLC would need to be. In his words, the new chief must be active and involved similar to the former one Jim Lightbody, as well as to live in Kamloops in closest proximity to the Crown corporation’s headquarters.
The Board Chair explained that while the Crown corporation is looking for its Next President and CEO, the agency has no plans of moving its head office outside of Kamloops. According to him, currently, most of the Crown’s executive staff works out of Kamloops, however, the CEO will have a major role in the Kamloops and the Vancouver offices.
Last week, the state-run agency officially kicked off its search for a replacement for Mr. Lightbody who stepped down from the position in December last year. The former President was on medical leave since 2019 after being diagnosed with cancer. According to Mr. Moore, the search for the company’s new leader could take from four to five months.
In addition to that, Mr. Moore noted that Mr. Lightbody was extremely involved in the community of Kamloops with the Blazers and business organizations. He expects the new candidate to be equally involved. In the meantime, Lynda Cavanaugh will continue as Interim President and CEO until a permanent replacement is found and steps into the role.
Fiscal 2020-21 Report
The stability and wellbeing of the BCLC are of immense importance to British Columbia. Last August, the Crown posted its financial report for the 2020-21 fiscal year, during which it reports record-breaking volume of lottery and eGaming activity. According to the review, for the fiscal year, the Crown has provided CA$419 million in net revenue for the province.
Annual Lottery Winnings Report
Besides securing million of revenue for the province, the BCLC is also giving out hundreds of millions of Canadian dollars to its lottery players. At the end of 2021, the Crown reported that for the calendar year, it paid out CA$891 million in cash prizes to its locals, with a total of 102 million winning tickets. This is the largest lottery payout volume in the history of the province.
Source: Kaisar, Victor “BCLC expects new CEO to be ‘active and involved’ in the Kamloops community”, Radio NL 610 AM, February 16, 2022