The Bell Center gaming room project would allow the bars to “clean up” and fight illegal sites, believes Loto-Québec’s president and CEO.
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Loto-Québec and Groupe CH, owners of the Montreal Canadiens, are in intensive talks to open a game room on the premises adjacent to the Bell Center, which previously housed the 1909 Taverne Moderne restaurant, The Press reported Wednesday morning.
“We’re not quite done yet. There are still many things to be done, but yes, we have already done that [en] discussed,” confirmed Loto-Québec President and CEO Jean-François Bergeron in an interview with 98.5 FM.
This new gaming lounge is expected to be open seven days a week from 12:00pm to 3:00am. Although Loto-Québec primarily wants to appeal to customers of the Bell Center, the three-story building will also be accessible from the outside.
The goal is to “review Quebec’s terrestrial offering” and reduce the number of bars with lottery machines.
“Currently, on the island of Montreal, there are approximately 410 doors where we offer gaming that is not labeled Loto-Québec, which equates to 3,000 machines,” complained Mr. Bergeron, who estimates that this is “too many”.
“The problem is not the number of machines, but the number of doors.” According to Mr Bergeron, studies have shown that gambling in a “safe” environment “significantly reduces the risks associated with gambling and addiction”.
Asked by Paul Arcand if Loto-Québec wanted to remove the machines from bars in Montreal, Mr Bergeron replied that “there will be better distribution”.
“The status quo is not an option. While we do nothing and ask questions, the illegals rub their hands,” he said. He is aware that the devices in the pubs are “the livelihood of several tenants”, but believes that “something needs to be cleaned”.
When asked about this, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante expressed some reservations.
“Social acceptance has to be there, that’s essential. We also want the project promoters, the CH and Loto-Québec, to come up with a project that will be acceptable to the health department,” she said during an afternoon press crowd.
Note that online gambling and gambling are illegal in Quebec unless supervised or operated by Loto-Québec. This is the case in all other provinces in Canada, except for Ontario, which legalized private online gambling platforms in April 2022.