BCLC
The Future of Play: New Horizons Conference 2021
The last twelve months has seen the way we work, live and play change dramatically in light of the global pandemic. At BCLC, we’ve pivoted our approach to business and accelerated our player health response to meet our players’ needs in a quickly changing societal context and entertainment landscape.
For some individuals, the rapid pace of change, combined with increased isolation, has been difficult. To make it easier for our players to access resources and to keep gambling fun and safe during these challenging times, BCLC has made GameSense Advisors available to players by phone and by online chat through PlayNow.com. GameSense Advisors have experience in areas such as mental health, cultural sensitivity and appropriate-response training to support players in a variety of situations. They also assist players by providing information that is essential to making informed decisions and connecting players to appropriate support resources where needed.
Now is the time to look at ways to move from the “new normal” to a “new future”. At this year’s Ninth Annual New Horizons in Responsible Gambling Conference, our theme, Player Health Reboot: Resetting the Future, embodies both reflection and imagination – with the clear purpose of inspiring success now and in the future.
Joining us as our keynote speaker is Futurist Sanjay Khanna, an expert in strategic foresight, who will kick-off two days of exciting dialogue by sharing his insights into global change and its implications for cultures of play and innovation in a post-pandemic era.
I had the opportunity to chat with Sanjay recently and ask him some tough questions about the future of the gambling industry and how the concept of play will evolve along with technological innovations and a drive towards greater sustainability. Here’s a preview into my discussion with him, and what he will he talk about at New Horizons.
Q: New Horizons connects industry-leading experts, specialists, and researchers from around the world to find solutions to keep gambling safer and reduce harms. If you could give one piece of advice to the gambling industry, what would it be?
A: Focus on keeping gambling safer and reducing harms by taking an innovation-led approach to developing new gambling experiences. These should involve a wider array of considerations about experience design, social engagement and evidence-based risk mitigation. There’s massive space for really exciting kinds of innovation that are considerate of people, are thoughtful, and use evidence and research effectively.
Q: You write that climate change defines us more than we realize by leading to lower earnings, uncertain employment prospects and mental-health burdens. What does the gambling industry need to do today to build resilience?
A: There are five important climate crisis stakeholders: Customers, employees, communities, allied businesses, and governments. For customers and employees, the industry could strive, for example, to attract socially responsible gamblers, who desire digitally and architecturally compelling gambling environments with a mix of exciting engagement and serenity. For communities, allied businesses, and governments, the industry could use social innovation to foster cooperation to address climate risks and build resilience. The industry will also need to take steps to mitigate physical risks of extreme weather and climate change to digital and physical infrastructure assets. From this perspective, two keys to resilience building include developing new physical infrastructures to higher engineering standards, as well as powering operations with renewable and redundant energy systems.
Q: Do you think our concept of play will change?
A: The concept of play won’t change, but where and how the instinct of play is harnessed will expand with further gamification of apps, services, and work, too. I’m concerned, for example, that play will continue to be monetized at scale with competitive rather than cooperative play impulses utterly dominant. Competitive elements of play can be more problematic if chronic economic stressors after the pandemic make people feel more desperate and therefore contribute to increasing individuals’ stress levels. That’s why one pertinent question for gambling innovators is: How might digital and physical gambling experiences be fortified with more creative and cooperative play instincts?
Q: With your future perspective, when it comes to the gambling industry ten years from now, what would be the three trends you would predict based on current conditions?
A: Deeper digitization, more innovative use of virtual reality, augmented reality and Internet of Things technologies to support the development of really interesting and compelling experiences that are part of the gambling experience. Underlining that is what I hope will be a focus on ways the gambling industry might enrich society by emphasizing player health, sustainability and resilience within purpose.
To learn more, join us at New Horizons where Sanjay will further explore concepts of play and innovation as well as the risks associated with data and technological advancements. He will also highlight the need to explore plausible scenarios within which play may occur, while inspiring conference participants to reboot player health by harnessing values of responsible gambling and breakthrough innovation.
New Horizons in Responsible Gambling takes place March 9 and 10, 2021 virtually. Sanjay Khanna’s keynote address kicks things off on March 9.
BCLC has launched a Scratch & Win ticket that is a win-win for both the Top Prize winner and their registered B.C. charity of choice.
The Greater Good Giveaway ticket offers a Top Prize of $10,000 for the winner and $10,000 for their registered charity of choice, selected from a list of British Columbia charities on CanadaHelps.
Thomas D’Cruz from Richmond is the first Top Prize winner for Greater Good Giveaway. D’Cruz selected the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation to receive the $10,000 charity prize, sharing that he “wanted to help children.” The winning ticket was purchased at Walmart on Alderbridge Way in Richmond.
There are over 12,000 registered B.C. charities on CanadaHelps for Top Prize winners to select from that support a variety of different causes, including arts and culture, education, social services and more.
“At BCLC, we believe that when we share the wins, we feel more connected to each other, our communities and our province,” says Natasha Questel, BCLC Chief Social Purpose Officer and Vice President of Marketing. “Our players have shared that they are interested in different types of prizing that go beyond a dollar amount, so as we celebrate our 40th anniversary we’re thrilled to launch the Greater Good Giveaway – a ticket that allows our players the chance to support causes that resonate deeply with them, and aligns strongly with our social purpose – to generate win-wins for the greater good.”
Greater Good Giveaway tickets are $2 each and are available for purchase at lottery retailers across the province. For full details on the Greater Good Giveaway ticket, including how to play, please visit our website.
In 2024, B.C. lottery players have redeemed more than $137 million in winnings from Scratch & Win.
Since 1985, BCLC has delivered more than $29 billion to the provincial government to support communities, provincial programs and services, charities and major events that have helped shape B.C.
The post BCLC Celebrates its 40th Anniversary With New Scratch & Win that Lets Winners Give Back appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
Justin Simporios is normally a sound sleeper who “can fall asleep anywhere” – but he had a very sleepless night, after learning he won an $80-million Lotto Max jackpot from the May 9, 2025 draw. This is the largest lottery jackpot ever won in B.C. and is also the largest jackpot ever won by a single individual in Canada.
“It was 10:30 p.m.,” recalled Simporios of the moment he realized he won. “I saw that someone won $80 million in Surrey. I was joking and told my wife ‘we’re millionaires!’ and she told me to stop making that joke. After, I manually checked each number before scanning [using the BCLC Lotto! I cried and shouted, ‘we’re millionaires!’”
The Surrey resident woke up his wife to share the news. “She was in complete disbelief and a bit mad at me because our daughter wasn’t feeling well.” Simporios’ wife luckily agreed this was a good reason to wake her.
While still in disbelief about his win, Simporios is ultimately most excited to share his windfall with his family. “I want to help my family and my wife’s family. I’ll pay off my sister’s medical school debt and help my mom retire early – just giving my family a head start in life.”
Giving back to the community in Surrey and B.C. is also a key priority for Simporios. “I’ve struggled before and needed help. Even if I can give an ounce of happiness, I want to help where we can. This feels like a dream.”
As an avid LA Lakers fan, Simporios mentioned he would like to see LeBron James play before James retires. He also plans to visit his family in the Philippines for a family reunion. “My wife and kid have never visited!”
On how it feels to win a record-breaking jackpot?
“The biggest change will be having more time with my wife and family. We want to live with a purpose – to help the community around us.”
Simporios purchased the winning ticket at the Walmart Supercentre in Central City on King George Boulevard in Surrey.
So far in 2025, B.C. lottery players have redeemed more than $101 million from Lotto Max. Lotto Max is a nationwide lottery game drawn on Tuesdays and Fridays after 7:30 p.m. (PST).
Players can purchase tickets at lottery retailers or at PlayNow.com. Winning numbers and group release forms can be found online at www.bclc.com. Players can check their lottery tickets anytime, anywhere on iOS and Android devices. Learn more about the BCLC Lotto!
BCLC offers socially responsible gambling entertainment while generating income to benefit all British Columbians. Players can visit PlayNow.com to learn how to set time and money limits.
The post Surrey Resident Wins Record-Breaking $80-Million Lotto Max Jackpot appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
BCLC’s new “What’s played here stays here” campaign is issuing an important reminder to British Columbians who choose to gamble – specifically that all net profit its operations generate stays in B.C. to help fund critical services like education, health care and community programs.
The campaign also reinforces that all other gambling websites operating in B.C. are illegal and take away funds from critical community programs and services.
“Across B.C. and Canada, we’ve seen incredible groundswell around the importance of buying and supporting local, and that’s no different for British Columbians who choose gambling for their entertainment. We want our B.C. players to know they can find a world-class gambling experience in their own backyard, whether it’s at one of our 33 casinos, 3,400 lottery retailers, or online at PlayNow.com, and that the proceeds from their play with BCLC make a positive impact at home in their community,” Pat Davis, President and CEO of BCLC, said.
Along with illegal online gambling websites, BCLC also competes with Washington State and Las Vegas casinos, all of which aggressively market to B.C. residents.
“BCLC continues to raise awareness that these gambling options do not support B.C.’s economy and take away funds from vital provincial and community-based programs and services. In a time when British Columbians are standing united, we want to reinforce that playing together with BCLC helps make B.C. even better,” Pat Davis added.
The post BCLC Launches “What’s played here stays here” Campaign appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
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