Loto-Quebec to Carefully Study the Statement Issued by Public Health
Montréal, February 20, 2007 - The Public Health Department issued a statement today concerning the establishment of gaming centres in the province. Loto-Québec has taken note of this document, which does not express any opposition to the project, but rather, focuses on operating methods. In actual fact, although the statement should have dealt with the gaming centres per se, it concentrates primarily on aspects not related to the project whatsoever. For the present time, Loto-Québec wishes to outline certain preliminary observations. Subsequently, the Corporation intends to take all the time necessary to study the document in depth.
To begin with, Loto-Québec has observed that the data used related to game offerings is the same that led the Institut national de santé publique and Université Laval’s Centre québécois d’excellence pour la prévention et le traitement du jeu to conclude that, from 1996 to 2002, the number of probable compulsive gamblers within the province’s adult population remained stable. In fact, this number declined from 1% to 0.8% during the period, now representing between 35,000 and 56,000 individuals. And yet, it is also important to note that this stability in the prevalence of pathological gaming within the adult population was observed at a time when the Corporation’s revenues grew by 40%. As such, this increase in earnings did not result in any escalation of the excessive gaming phenomenon.
After an initial review of the document, it is apparent that the authors lump together players at risk with compulsive gamblers, which serves to amplify the phenomenon. Moreover, the document also shows a confused definition of the notion of game offerings - sometimes denoting the number of game terminals, other times the number or type of sites, sometimes referring to geography, and other times to household income. The approach proposed to the Government by Loto-Québec in its 2004-2007 Development Plan is very clear. It is based on diminishing accessibility, as was recommended by the only study conducted on the subject. That is why the Corporation established its priority as being to reduce the number of existing sites and concentrate the units at controlled sites.
The gaming centres constitute a new concept in Québec. Therefore, one would have thought that in preparing and substantiating their document, the authors would have seen the value in examining similar experiences in other jurisdictions, most notably in Ontario, which has 17 gaming centres twinned with racetracks.
In conclusion, Loto-Québec has observed that the external consultant engaged to help prepare this statement is the same individual serving in a consulting role in conjunction with a class action launched against the Corporation. As such, Loto-Québec would hope to see an independent evaluation carried out by a team of international experts who would examine the data on which this document is based with total objectivity.
Once again, Loto-Québec will be taking all the time required to analyze and evaluate the Public Health Department’s document. In the meantime, the Corporation wishes to reiterate that its video lottery network reconfiguration initiative is aimed at reducing accessibility by closing 31% of existing sites and regrouping the units withdrawn from bars and brasseries within environments governed by a series of precise control and prevention measures. Initiated in 2005, this reconfiguration effort has achieved over 50% of its objective to date.
Marie-Claude Rivet
Société des salons de jeux du Québec
