The BC Lottery Corporation says it hasn’t had to layoff any staff during the pandemic.

Interim CEO Greg Moore says staff seem to have more work on their plate now than before.

He says almost all staff in Kamloops and Vancouver started working from home within about nine days after casinos closed.

“Well over 90 per cent of our staff are now working remotely, and as we get used to this new normal and video conferencing all of the time, it’s allowed us to continue the work that we do. As for the service providers – the casinos themselves – unfortunately well over 90 per cent of staff of all of our different service providers have been laid off.”

Moore says casinos directly employ between 10,000 and 20,000 staff indirectly.

Meanwhile, with casinos closed down because of COVID-19, BCLC says there have been 30 per cent more gambling online during the spring.

Moore says the Crown corporation has also tried to make it as easy as possible for people to claim their prizes.

“If you have a lottery win over $25,000 dollars, you can come into either the Vancouver or Kamloops office by appointment,” he says.

“But because of COVID, one of the things that we’ve done is you can actually cash in your tickets at distance now. So you don’t need to come in, and we have developed a new process so that someone doesn’t have to drive down to Kamloops from the north, or the Kootenays, that sort of thing. They can actually do it by distance. And so far we’ve given out about $58 million dollars in prize payouts at that new process.”

The largest single prize given out this spring has been $24 million dollars to a man in Aldergrove, who won that on a Lotto 6-49 ticket.