MONCTON, N.B. -- The pandemic has changed a lot of things, including the way people play games of chance. Some are playing online, others aren't playing at all.
The sale of lottery tickets at retail locations has slowed but there are still people gambling
"For scratch tickets, people often come for the crosswords and they're used to it and there are others who often come in for lotto 6/49," said convenience store employee Hippolyte Muaka.
But retail sales have slowed.
Job losses at Atlantic Lottery were announced yesterday. They are a result of consumers turning more and more to online channels, something that was accelerated by COVID-19.
In total, 61 jobs have been eliminated by Atlantic Lottery, 43 of them from New Brunswick, seven each from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, and four from Prince Edward Island.
Atlantic lottery CEO Chris Keevill says these are not layoffs, but permanent job losses. A number of the people let go were close to retirement and sacrificed their job for their co-workers.
"There were some employees who raised their hands and said ,look, I've had a good run and I'm ready for retirement, so I'm going to take myself out of the system to make room for someone else.'"
In 2018-2019, Atlantic Lottery returned $422 million dollars in profit to the four Atlantic provinces -- a number that's expected to drop as a result of COVID-19.
The job losses take effect immediately.
