Quebec’s election result has put a private online gambling market on the political agenda, after the Parti Québécois won 59 seats on Monday, October 5, five short of a majority. The Liberals took 40 seats and are entitled to Official Opposition status, creating the possibility of cross-party support for reform-but no framework has been enacted.
The result could move the province away from Loto-Québec’s exclusive right to offer Internet gaming and towards a competitive model more like Ontario’s. The election report describes the PQ as poised to pursue that shift, while underscoring that the regulator, rules and treatment of the Crown corporation still need to be settled.
A possible route beyond the monopoly
The Liberal campaign proposed giving the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ) broader authority over Internet-based wagering. Under that plan, the RACJ would license and oversee platforms, enforce consumer protections, address gambling-addiction risks and regulate advertising.
PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said on Tuesday, October 6, that his party intended to follow a regulatory model similar to the Liberal proposal. That signals policy alignment, but does not establish that the PQ will adopt every detail of the Liberal plan or that legislation is ready to be introduced.
A further institutional question remains: the province may first need an independent agency before deciding which body will oversee operators, including Loto-Québec, and what measures will apply. The Liberal proposal assigns an expanded role to the RACJ, but the final oversight structure has not been determined.
Industry support meets a channelisation question
The Quebec Online Gaming Coalition (QOGC) sees the election as a change in political appetite for online gambling. Communications officer Ariane Gauthier said the coalition believes the reform has broad support and could succeed under the new government.
The coalition includes Apricot, Bet99, Betway, DraftKings, Entain, Flutter and Rush Street. For operators, the prospect of a licensing regime matters not only as a route to market access, but as a potential way to compete for players currently using unregulated sites. Betway’s expansion in Alberta offers a nearby example of how private operators can enter a provincial market under a regulated framework.
The market estimates in the report underline why channelisation is central to the debate. A private-sector study put Quebec’s total addressable iGaming market at CAD$3.09 billion in 2026, estimating that 27% of activity takes place in a regulated environment and 73% in an unregulated one. It put the associated gross gaming revenue loss at approximately $2.3 billion.
Those estimates sit alongside different, and not directly interchangeable, measures of player behaviour. Loto-Québec says 81% of online gamblers use its Espacejeux platform; a 2023 Mainstreet Research survey published by the QOGC found that 73% of Quebec-based players polled used private platforms for casino games and sports wagering. The same survey found that 72% of Espacejeux users said they used the platform solely to buy lottery tickets.
Ontario is a reference point, not a blueprint
Ontario established its private online gambling market on April 4, 2022. The report says it had 49 licensed operators offering 84 sites and generated CA$4.04 billion in unadjusted gross gaming revenue by 2025. Alberta is also cited as a provincial comparison, with a private online casino market planned for that summer and 36 active sites available.
Those markets show the scale of the infrastructure Quebec would need to define, rather than providing a ready-made template. Canadian Gaming Association representative Amanda Brewer noted that Loto-Québec does not have regulatory oversight from the RACJ. In her assessment, Quebec would first need a regulator and probably a separate conduct-and-manage entity similar to iGaming Ontario or the Alberta iGaming Corporation. Alberta’s effort to channel players into a regulated market also shows why market access and competition with offshore sites are closely linked.
The political arithmetic is favourable to legislation: the PQ and Liberals together hold enough seats to pass a bill, and industry representative Troy Ross has assessed that cooperation could make a framework possible. But support for a direction is not the same as agreement on its mechanics.
Quebec still has to settle who licenses and supervises operators, how Loto-Québec fits into the new system, and what standards will govern consumer protection, addiction prevention and advertising. The election has made a private market more plausible; until legislation and an oversight model emerge, its scope and timing remain open questions.
The post PQ Victory Puts Quebec’s Online Gambling Rules in Play appeared first on CasinoBeats.
