Loto-Québec’s 2,500 employees received $10 million in bonuses in 2023-2024, despite a slight drop in the state corporation’s revenues compared to the previous year.
“It’s really been an excellent year,” explains the president and CEO of Loto-Québec, Jean-François Bergeron, in an interview.
In its annual report, the state-owned company reports revenues of 2.9 billion and a net profit of 1.5 billion, which is paid entirely to the government in the form of dividend. This is a slight decrease compared to the previous year, which was “exceptional” according to Mr. Bergeron.
“We must not forget that we had to deal with a strike that lasted almost 4 months,” underlines the president and CEO.
In this context, the salary of Loto-Québec bosses remained approximately the same as last year. For example, Mr. Bergeron received total compensation of $609,882 in 2023-2024, an increase of 4% compared to the previous year ($586,421). This amount includes his bonus, which remained exactly the same ($70,995).
The four other main executives of the Crown corporation also kept roughly the same salary, which increased by only a few thousand dollars.
Overall, Loto-Québec also paid less incentive compensation than last year, marked by the restart of the bonus machine. In 2022-2023, the 2,500 employees, including executives and senior managers, shared some $14 million in bonuses, while they shared $10 million this year, an average of $4,000 per head of pipe. .
“Variable remuneration is there to help us perform better. It is not because we are a state corporation that we should have lower expectations,” defended Mr. Bergeron.
“Then in terms of recruitment, we do not have a monopoly. The people we recruit in private companies are people who already have bonus portions of their overall compensation. Then, bonuses are not gifts, you have to work,” he added, insisting on the fact that according to him it is “a way of keeping people extremely motivated”.
Furthermore, the president and CEO of Loto-Québec notes that the organization is continuing its work to regain online gaming market share from illegal sites, by increasing its own offering and raising awareness.
He also announced that the project to build a hotel adjacent to the Montreal Casino is progressing well, and that the hotelier who will be selected will be known “towards the end of the summer”.
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