Quebec Liberal leader Charles Milliard has proposed opening the province’s online gambling market to licensed commercial operators, with tighter rules on advertising, addiction and minors, and a new industry-funded body for problem-gambling prevention and treatment. Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has backed the approach ahead of Quebec’s Oct. 5 election.
Milliard’s Sept. 9 proposal would give either Loto-Québec or the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux responsibility for licensing and supervising every internet-based gaming site operating in Quebec, according to Iredell Free News. It would mark a move to admit private platforms into a market where Loto-Québec is government-owned.
All sites would need a provincial licence under the plan. Milliard also proposed strict enforcement of standards governing gambling advertising, addiction safeguards and minors’ participation.
The Liberal leader wants an independent non-profit organisation, financed exclusively by gaming-industry contributions, to design programmes and strategies for prevention and treatment of problem gambling. He said the broader proposal would protect Quebecers and save the province about $1.7 billion a year in recurring costs.
A McGill University and Douglas Research Centre study followed more than 2,300 Quebec patients over 13 years and found that, despite free access, they averaged fewer than two treatments. Among those who entered treatment, about 42% had multiple admissions, while people who gambled online had a roughly 15% higher admission rate.
Marie-Josée Fleury, one of the study’s authors, said gambling disorder can require sustained, long-term care comparable to treatment for substance-related disorders. Co-author Ovidiu Tatar said online gambling can make impulsive behaviour easier and may increase risks of relapse and repeated treatment.
National survey evidence also underscores the risks associated with online play. The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction found that past-year online gamblers were far more likely than lottery-only participants to meet its problem-gambling criteria, 40.8% against 0.9%, and to report high gambling-related harm, 19.0% against 0.9%.
The disparities were particularly pronounced among online gamblers aged 18 to 29. Nearly one in three young adults reported gambling online, and 69.4% of those online gamblers met the report’s problem-gambling criteria. The CCSA, drawing on a late-2024 survey of 8,211 people in Canada, called for stable funding for prevention, treatment and research, as well as systems to monitor harms.
Plamondon described Quebec’s online sports-betting market as a “Wild West”, arguing that American companies were advertising and operating in the province without regulation. He said Ontario had collected an additional $300 million in taxes after “cleansing” its market, and suggested comparable revenue could support areas including homelessness and childhood learning disabilities.
Industry groups have pressed the same case. The Quebec Online Gaming Coalition has estimated that about 2,000 gambling sites serve Quebecers despite Loto-Québec’s theoretical ban, and said Loto-Québec held between 17% and 27% of the activity in 2025. Its spokesperson, Ariane Gauthier, called for fair rules to apply equally to Loto-Québec and private operators.
Loto-Québec has previously rejected that framing. Renaud Dugas, its communications director, said in February that the coalition sought to legalise activity already occurring illegally and create an advantage for non-Canadian operators rather than players. The Canadian Gaming Association nevertheless supported use of regulatory authority to address what it called an uneven playing field created by unregulated foreign operators.
Milliard also asked provincial regulators to examine prediction markets, which he said remained accessible in Quebec without oversight despite federal legal prohibitions. The legal position is unsettled: a Stikeman Elliott analysis noted that no prediction market had received approval to operate in Canada, and that a March bulletin from the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization created only a narrow potential route for certain event contracts while possible conflicts with Criminal Code gaming provisions remained.
Quebec voters go to the polls on Oct. 5.
