The Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) (French: Société des loteries de l'Atlantique), branded as simply Atlantic Lottery or Loto Atlantique, is a Canadian organization that provides government-regulated lottery products in Atlantic Canada. They offer a wide range of games, from draw games to online bingo; breakopen tickets to sports wagering; and games in both social settings and online.[1]
Atlantic Lottery's head office is located in Moncton, New Brunswick, with regional offices in Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Prince Edward Island is home to Atlantic Lottery's Red Shores Racetrack and Casino in Charlottetown, and Red Shores at Summerside Raceway.
History
The headquarters of ALC in downtown MonctonThe winners parking spots at the ALC headquarters in Moncton
ALC was founded in 1976, shortly after the founding of government lotteries elsewhere in Canada. The first and only game offered at this time was A-1, a $1 game sold in books of five, with draws occurring biweekly. While Atlantic Lottery’s first games were only available on a regional basis, it quickly joined the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation, which offered national draws.
In 1977, ALC began sponsoring the Canada Games.
In 1987, Atlantic Lottery was the first lottery organization in the world to print a bar code on all draw and scratch tickets, allowing for instant verification of a prize. In 1990, they introduced the first regulated video lottery terminals in Canada.
Atlantic Lottery made history once again in 2004 with the introduction of PlaySphere, making them the first lottery jurisdiction in North America to offer lottery products online. PlaySphere has since been rebranded as alc.ca.
The Charlottetown Driving Park Entertainment Centre (now the Red Shores Racetrack and Casino) first opened their doors in 2005, offering harness racing, a gaming floor and a restaurant.
In 2012, Atlantic Lottery launched an Employee Social Responsibility certification program, becoming the first lottery in the world to launch an internal SR certification program. By 2014, the World Lottery Association recognized Atlantic Lottery for the “Best Innovation in Responsible Gaming” for its Ask Away information site.
Atlantic Lottery became a member of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI) in 2016.
Since its inception in 1976, Atlantic Lottery returned over $11.3 billion in profits to the four Atlantic Provinces. In 2021-22, $438.1 million in profit was returned to its four governmental shareholders.
Controversies
In 2008, Dr Peter McKenna, a professor of political science at University of PEI wrote "Terminal Damage: the politics of VLTs in Atlantic Canada" which was sharply critical of politicians' support for gambling in the region.
In 2017, a class action lawsuit was initiated in Newfoundland and Labrador against the ALC claiming the Video Lottery Terminals it operates in the province deceive players into thinking they can win over the long term.[3] The case went as far as the Supreme Court of Canada which in 2020 ruled it could not proceed further.[4]
ALC's decision to implement an online casino for Nova Scotia in 2021 following a similar initiative in New Brunswick in 2020 was criticized by a Halifax counsellor specializing in gambling addiction, who told the CBC that, "the perceived legitimacy of the website being endorsed by the government" could lead to more use, noting that there was a moratorium and planned phaseout of physical VLTs in the province at the same time the virtual ones were being launched.[5]
In 2022, journalists from King's College's journalism program produced a investigative series about the continuing harm from VLTs in Nova Scotia, where the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation acknowledges one in ten VLT users are problem gamblers.[6]
Games and products
Draw Games:
Lotto 6/49 (national) — draws on Wednesdays and Saturdays
Lotto Max (national) — draws on Tuesdays and Fridays
Daily Grand (national) – draws on Mondays and Thursdays
Atlantic 49 (regional) – draws on Wednesdays and Saturdays
Hit or Miss (regional) – a daily draw game that includes an instant win component
Tag (regional) – an add-on game purchased with other draw tickets
KenoAtlantic (regional) -a daily keno game where players can choose their wager
Bucko (regional) – a daily 5/41 draw game that costs only $1 to play
Salsa Bingo (regional) - a daily bingo draw game
Poker Lotto (regional) – a daily draw game
Lotto 4 (regional) – a daily draw game where players can choose their wager
alc.ca - a large variety of Atlantic Lottery’s games are available to purchase and play online
Red Shores
Red Shores is the only Casino on Prince Edward Island, with the Racetrack and Casino at Charlottetown Driving Park offering over 150 slots, Blackjack, UTH, Baccarat, Roulette and a private Poker Room. Red Shores' Summerside location offers a gaming floor with a mix of slots and VLT’s.
Red Shores Charlottetown and Summerside showcase harness racing, which is live streamed with broadcasts begin approximately 15 minutes prior to first race Post Time.[7]
Major sponsorships
Atlantic Lottery sponsors more than 100 community festivals and events across the region every year. [8]
Atlantic Lottery Corporation has supported the Canada Games for over four decades – beginning in 1977 when ALC provided sports bags to every Atlantic Canadian athlete - although no information is yet available about whether this will continue in 2025 when the games come to St John's.
