The Québec lottery is coming off one of its best years yet amid its campaign to push back against illegal operators of sports betting sites, an effort that now faces competition from private-sector companies seeking an Ontario-like market in La Belle Province.
Provincially owned Loto-Québec said Wednesday it would pay the Quebec government a dividend of $1.597 billion after generating a total profit of $1.6 billion during its latest fiscal year, which ended March 31. The corporation's earnings were up 40% from the year prior.
“This is Loto-Québec’s best performance since the Tobacco Control Act [which prohibited smoking in casinos] came into force in 2006, significantly impacting traffic at gaming establishments,” the lottery and gaming corporation said in a press release. “Customers showed a great deal of enthusiasm as they reconnected with entertainment activities after a prolonged period of pandemic restrictions, and all teams rallied to meet their expectations.”
Loto-Québec's results only got a slight lift from the performance of its online legal sports betting operations. The provincially owned entity said revenues from its gaming website (which includes online sports betting) were up 3.3% in its 2022-2023 fiscal year, to $403.9 million.
The website and the Mise-o-jeu online sportsbook have been a point of emphasis for Loto-Québec, which has also worked to raise awareness that its digital offerings are the only authorized ones in the province. The lottery has a legal monopoly on Quebec sports betting.
“True to our commitment to conduct our business in a socially responsible manner, we approached every decision with this lens, and paid particular attention to our gaming website,” Loto-Québec CEO Jean-François Bergeron said in a press release. “In addition to promoting the responsible gambling tools offered on lotoquebec.com, we made a concerted effort to counter the advertising of illegal gambling websites and to inform the public that ours is the only 100% legal gaming website in Québec.”
A conversation starter
Loto-Québec is a member of a coalition of provincial lottery corporations that banded together last August to raise awareness of unregulated gaming operators in the country and to press the federal government to take action against them. That effort has taken a legal turn, as Gaming News Canada reported this week, citing a group of Ontario-licensed operators, that the lotteries instructed lawyers to send cease-and-desist letters to some of those companies.
LQ’s results also follow a group of online gambling operators announcing last month that they are banding together to lobby the Quebec government to create an Ontario-like market for online sports betting and casino gambling.
The Québec Online Gaming Coalition includes operators such as Betway and DraftKings and came bearing polling that suggests most Quebecers believe the provincial government cannot block private gaming sites and that an Ontario-like system should be established.
Ontario is still the only province in Canada that allows multiple private-sector operators of online sportsbooks and casinos to legally take bets. Most of Ontario’s peers, like Quebec, permit a legal monopoly for provincially owned lottery and gaming corporations. Ontario decided instead to license and regulate multiple operators and launched its competitive market last year.
Things are going well so far with the Quebec campaign, according to coalition spokesperson Nathalie Bergeron. While the effort was initially panned by the lottery and the Quebec government, the group has "forced a conversation" that wasn't happening, she said.
“So we are starting to see a lot more chatter, and we are seeing media paying attention,” Bergeron told Covers in an interview. “We are seeing a lot of people starting to bring the topic to the forefront, which, interestingly, is forcing some of the stakeholders, including Loto-Québec, to pay attention and to comment on it. So to me, that's really good progress.”
Getting with the times, maybe
Bergeron said meetings are being planned with government officials to at least discuss the coalition’s vision. Whether provincial lawmakers go for the proposal remains to be seen.
In the meantime, the coalition is pointing to its polling and the potential revenue Quebec could realize if it allowed multiple operators of online sportsbooks and casinos to take bets in the province. Bergeron said their forecast is Quebec could see another $230 million or so in revenue a year from an Ontario-like market, which would be in addition to what the province received from Loto-Québec.
“The current system was created at a time where people had to physically go to a casino or to the races,” she added. “There's absolutely no mention of the internet. I think it's simply time to get with the times.”
