A new report says the BC Lottery Corporation headquarters in Kamloops has contributed $2.2 billion into the local economy in the past 35 years.

The report was done by Thompson Rivers University economist, professor Peter Tsigaris.

He says the workforce grows by 4.1 per cent each year on average, and with 445 full-time-equivalent workers he says it’s the seventh-largest employer in Kamloops.

“The BCLC head offices in Kamloops play a significant role, not only in terms of economic impact but also in terms of the social impact. Because it’s a big, powerful organization in Kamloops, helping out economically and socially the community.”

Tsigaris says the headquarters had an economic impact of $73 million in the 2019-20 fiscal year, which he says is about one per cent of Kamloops’ annual gross domestic product.

The study says a new job is created in Kamloops for every two jobs at BCLC.

After a replacement project for the Kamloops headquarters was scrapped in early 2019 – based on rising costs, according to government – there has been speculation that the Crown corporation may permanently move its headquarters to downtown Vancouver.

In a news release, BCLC interim president and CEO Lynda Cavanaugh says the Crown corporation is “so proud of what BCLC has contributed to Kamloops, so appreciative of what Kamloops has contributed to BCLC – and we look forward to many more years of success together.”

The report covered up to March 30, 2020, meaning most of the pandemic is not included in the data, as Tsigaris says the 2020-21 fiscal year data was not yet available when he did the report earlier this year. But BCLC has maintained that no employees have been let go or laid off from its Kamloops headquarters during the pandemic.