Loto-Qubec to offer online gambling

Quebec's lottery corporation will launch its first online gambling service in September amove Loto-Qubec hopes will add millions of dollars to its coffers by 2013, the province's finance minister said Wednesday.

Allowing Loto-Qubec to join the lucrative online market, beginning with poker and sports betting, could earn the province about $50 million over the next three years, Finance Minister Raymond Bachand said. And he said he'd be happy if Loto-Qubec could carve out an even larger segment of the estimated $675-million online market than that.

Critics worry offering online gambling will be akin to a game of Russian roulette for gambling addicts.

"By increasing the offer, we increase the number of players," said Dr. Richard Lessard, the director of Montreal Public Health. "And as we increase the number of players, the number of players with gambling problems will increase as well."

Site to be'controlled'

The potential social costs for young adults are particularly grim, suggested Danielle Doyer, the Parti Qubcois s critic for social services. She accused the Liberal government, which approved Loto-Qubec's entry into the online market, of ignoring the costs in favour of financial gain.

But Loto-Qubec argues Quebeckers already have access to more than 2,000 online gambling sites that are "illegal, unregulated and often of doubtful integrity," said Loto-Qubec president and CEO Alain Cousineau in a press release.

"This is a way for us to channel the gaming offering in a controlled circuit and environment whose integrity will be beyond reproach," Cousineau said.

The site will require players to verify their age, limit their weekly account replenishments and allow players to "self-exclude at all times," he said.

He also cited a public health study that showed no increase in problematic gamblers in Quebec between 1996 and 2002, suggesting the proportion of the population addicted to gambling always remains the same, regardless of the number of gambling outlets.

Loto-Qubec is working with its counterparts in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada to develop its site. It has already signed a memorandum of understanding to share a common online gaming platform that will include poker.