Quebec Liberal leader Charles Milliard has proposed requiring every online gaming platform serving the province to hold a provincial licence, challenging Loto-Québec’s present position as Quebec’s sole authorized public online gambling operator.
Milliard’s Sept. 9 election proposal would expand the mandate of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, or RACJ, to license and oversee online gaming platforms active in Quebec. The plan would impose stricter advertising, addiction-prevention and underage-gambling rules, and establish an independent non-profit body funded by the industry to prevent and treat problem gambling.
The proposal also addresses prediction markets. The Liberals want Quebec’s financial and gambling watchdogs to examine how to close what Yahoo/Covers described as a regulatory gap around products that can be accessed in the province without a framework. Canadian financial regulators, including Quebec’s, have recently rejected authorizing sports-related event contracts for trading.
Milliard said the changes would protect Quebecers and save about $1.7 billion a year in recurring costs. But important features remain undefined. Segev LLP noted that the campaign announcement set out no tax or revenue-sharing rate, no transition path for offshore operators, no timetable and no position on whether Loto-Québec would compete with licensees.
The legal structure is also unresolved. Section 207(1)(a) of the Criminal Code allows provinces to conduct and manage lottery schemes under provincial law. Ontario uses an arrangement in which private operators register with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and enter operating agreements with iGaming Ontario; Alberta has created the Alberta iGaming Corporation for a comparable conducting-and-managing role. Segev LLP said Milliard’s plan identifies the RACJ as regulator, but not a provincial entity to perform that latter function, meaning a licensing-only model may fall outside the federal provision.
Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon backed regulating private online gaming, characterising online sports betting as “a Wild West.” He pointed to Ontario’s claim that it collected an additional $300 million after regulating the sector. The Quebec Online Gaming Coalition also supports reform and estimates that Quebec forgoes roughly $300 million annually, although Segev said that figure extrapolates Ontario’s outcomes to Quebec’s adult population rather than measuring Quebec’s market directly.
Estimates of Loto-Québec’s share of online gambling vary sharply. A 2025 Blask estimate put it at 17%, while a University of Lethbridge study cited by Yahoo/Covers found 79.4% of Quebec online gamblers used the provincial site. Loto-Québec has cited separate Léger research saying 81% of online players choose lotoquebec.com, and argues that players spend nearly twice as much on illegal sites.
The proposal has no legal effect and no implementing legislation has been published. Quebec voters elect a new government on Oct. 5.
