Message from the President
and CEO

Loto-Québec Must Adapt Its Game Offerings to New Technological and Commercial Realities

A few weeks ago, I delivered a presentation to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montréal outlining the major challenges that Loto-Québec will have to meet over the coming years. You can see or read this speech by visiting our website.

During my presentation, I focused on a subject of particular concern to Loto-Québec — the existence and proliferation of parallel gaming networks using the Internet. The emergence of online gaming is a major global trend that is probably irreversible. Québecers are increasingly being solicited to participate in such gaming, whether legal or not. In Canada, this activity sector has seen average annual growth of 30% between 2003 and 2008, increasing from $184 million to $675 million. We anticipate these figures to exceed the $1 billion mark by 2012.

Needless to say, online gaming sites do not offer any support program in aid of vulnerable players. Thus, the State must assume all costs associated with Internet gambling problems without drawing any of the benefits.

Given the increasing prominence of this phenomenon, Loto-Québec intends to submit a proposal to the Government calling for the establishment of specific guidelines for this practice. For the time being, we are advocating a collaborative agreement with the five other provinces that have already begun to offer online games. This partnership could be modelled after that which we currently have in place for Canada-wide draws like Lotto Max.

Loto-Québec has demonstrated its pertinence and ability to adapt to changes of all kinds on numerous occasions. One thing is certain — while pursuing its efforts to channel game offerings in a controlled fashion and manage gaming so as to minimize related social costs, Loto-Québec will always strive to maintain a balance between its economic mission and its social responsibility.

Showcasing Contemporary Art at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts

Thanks to a five-year partnership between
Loto-Québec and the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, a number of new contemporary art galleries have recently been inaugurated. This $1 million contribution will provide greater accessibility to this form of art to a greater number of individuals by extending free admission to the galleries.

In issuing this final 2009 edition of What's New at Loto-Québec, I would like to take the opportunity to wish you and yours very happy holidays and an excellent 2010!