Before the Direction de la santé publique de Montréal makes an official decision, Québec solidaire opposes Loto-Québec’s proposed arcade at the Bell Center.
Posted at 3:38pm
“Focusing a game offering on vulnerable populations is not a good idea. We don’t understand that Loto-Québec would come up with such a project, says Québec solidaire (QS) co-head Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. The pandemic has already boosted online gambling, now is not the time to concentrate a gambling offer in such an area. »
He points out that the most recent public health study from 2017 clearly stated that downtown Montreal is a “red zone” where gambling is already significant and the population is at risk.
La Presse announced two weeks ago that Loto-Québec had reached an agreement with the Bell Center to open a brand new gaming lounge at the 1909 Taverne Moderne restaurant, which has been closed since the pandemic. This huge three-storey building would house more than 300 slot machines as well as sports betting terminals. The Gaming Lounge would be open seven days a week from 12pm to 3am.
The facility has a door to the street so it would not be exclusive to Bell Center ticket holders. “We will not lock the door on any customer who wishes to enter,” Loto-Québec CEO Jean-François Bergeron said in an interview with host Paul Arcand.
QS candidate in Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, says he hears a lot about the project from community groups at the equestrian centre, which is geographically very close to the city centre.
“The Bell Center is a few blocks from the horse farm. The populations are adjacent. Groups in the neighborhood feel like they are reliving the saga of the Peel Basin casino. They feel like they’re playing the exact same movie over and over again, he says. Local people are alarmed. »
The QS candidate wonders why the arguments that prevailed on the Peel Basin casino project, due to be completed in 2005 in partnership with Cirque du Soleil, would be less valid 20 years later. “It’s disturbing that there’s a second round with exactly the same type of project,” Mr Cliche-Rivard said.
After the opening of the arcade at the Bell Centre, Mr Bergeron made it clear that opening such facilities was part of the Crown Corporation’s plans. He said he wants to remove machines from bars and focus them on a more limited number of gaming establishments.
“The problem is not the number of machines, but the number of doors. There are too many doors, said Mr Bergeron. The offer needs to be migrated. According to Loto-Québec’s CEO, research shows that the risk of becoming a problem gambler decreases in arcade-like establishments that offer other types of entertainment.
Québec solidaire clearly disagrees with this approach. “It was not for nothing that we placed the casino on the Île Notre-Dame. Here we are going completely in the opposite direction,” observes Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
For Loto-Québec, the gaming lounge project specifically aims to fight against online gambling that has exploded during the pandemic. A 2021 survey conducted by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) found that 20% of Quebecers were tempted by the online gambling experience. For half of them it was a very first experience. In several addiction treatment centers, the majority of problem gamblers now gamble online.