Loto-Québec CEO Proposes Online Gambling Merger

Alain Cousineau, the current Loto-Québec CEO, said in a speech to the Montreal Board of Trade last year, "Casino operations require a large workforce," "We work in a saturated and almost mature market where operational costs rise more quickly than revenue."Our biggest challenge will be to maintain profit margins without sacrificing service quality because we are in the field of entertainment where customers want extraordinary experiences." Loto-Québec has a request into the government for approval to get into online gambling in a partnership with B.C. Lottery Corp. and the Atlantic Lottery Corp.

The other organizations have been dabbling in online gambling offering sports betting, bingo and lotteries. The partnership proposes going the one step further by offering larger stake ventures like casino action and poker. This is a huge political leap for authorities in Canada because politicians don't want to been seen as promoting gambling. It is estimated that Canadians spent $675 million on online gambling in 2008 and that number is expected to grow to $1 billion by 2012.

Michael Lipton, a Toronto based gaming law lawyer said it was important for the agencies to collaborate in order for them to be competitive with the existing online gaming operations located in Mohawk territory in the province of Quebec. The B.C. Lottery Corporation's initiative is well on it's way to becoming a reality. It is rumoured to have made a deal with British based Orbis Technology Ltd. for it's software requirements as well has having a business model for it's regulatory framework, notably the Alderney jurisdiction. To be really viable a larger customer base has to be established and a partnership of the three organizations would benefit all of them. If Mr. Cousineau manages to get approval from the political authorities it is speculated this would be a great achievement for the CEO. Making online gambling work in Canada may be a step in the right direction for future revenue sources which British Columbia defines as progress.