Quebec Election Puts Loto-Quebec's Online Gambling Monopoly on the Ballot

^{Quebec's Oct. 5 election has turned online gambling regulation into a campaign issue, with the two leading parties now open to licensing private operators. (Image: David A Eastley/Alamy)}

Quebec voters go to the polls Oct. 5, and for the first time, the province's online gambling monopoly is part of the campaign conversation.

Loto-Quebec has been the only legal operator of online casinos in Canada's second-most-populous province since it launched its Espacejeux platform, running both online casino games and the Mise-o-jeu sportsbook.

Quebec Liberal Party Leader Charles Milliard announced Sept. 9 that a Liberal government would expand the mandate of the Regie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, the provincial alcohol and gambling regulator, so it could license and oversee all online gambling activity in the province, according to Le Devoir and Canadian Gaming Business.

Under the Liberal plan, every online gambling site would need a licence from the regulator, and operators would face "strict rules on advertising, addiction prevention, and protecting minors," Milliard said.

The plan also includes a new independent, industry-funded organization dedicated to gambling-addiction prevention and support, according to Canadian Gaming Business.

The Liberals have written the licensing plan into their costed fiscal framework, and the Quebec Online Gaming Coalition says similar recommendations from private operators, backed by more than $300 million in projected annual revenue, informed the proposal.

Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon endorsed the Liberal proposal in a Sept. 9 interview with Radio-Canada, calling Quebec's current unregulated market a "Wild West."

"American companies arrive, then advertise, and are not regulated," Plamondon said, as quoted by The Canadian Press.

Plamondon pointed to Ontario's experience opening its market as a model, saying that province "decided to clean up and collect a tax on these activities, and it raised an additional $300 million," money he suggested Quebec could direct toward homelessness and children's programs.

A Leger poll published Sept. 14 put the PQ in first place provincially with 29% of voting intentions, ahead of the Liberals at 23% and the governing Coalition Avenir Quebec, now led by Premier Christine Frechette, at 21%.

The Quebec Online Gaming Coalition, whose members include BET99, DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment's Ontario-licensed brands, said in a Sept. 10 statement that the two parties' commitments show "a broad consensus is emerging in Quebec" on regulating both Loto-Quebec and private operators under the same rules.

The coalition, which first pitched licensing recommendations to the provincial government in February, has argued for years that Loto-Quebec's monopoly no longer reflects how Quebecers actually gamble online.

A 2025 report from analytics firm Blask estimated Loto-Quebec captures only 17% of Quebec's online gambling market, despite operating in the space for more than 15 years, while separate data presented at the 2025 Canadian Gaming Summit put its share closer to 27%.

The estimates differ, but both point the same direction: most Quebec online betting happens outside Loto-Quebec's regulated platform.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec has not proposed opening the market to private operators during this campaign, though the party did vote at its 2025 convention in favour of applying rules to private gambling companies equivalent to those governing Loto-Quebec.

How Quebec Compares With Ontario and Alberta

Quebec remains one of the few Canadian provinces still relying on a single government-run operator rather than a licensed private market.

Ontario online casinos opened to competition in April 2022, becoming the first Canadian province with a regulated, multi-operator iGaming market.

Alberta online casino sites followed on July 13, 2026, launching a regulated market that applies a 20% levy on operator gaming revenue.

Both provinces' moves have become reference points in Quebec's debate, with Plamondon and the coalition citing Ontario's tax collection specifically as evidence a licensed market can work.

Neither the Liberals nor the Parti Quebecois has published a market-opening date or a revenue-sharing structure, and any change still depends on the Oct. 5 result and a new government's legislative agenda.

A Separate Fight Over Prediction Markets

The Liberal platform also addresses prediction markets, the event-contract platforms that have expanded rapidly across North America.

Milliard's party wants Quebec's financial and gambling regulators jointly tasked with closing what it calls a regulatory gap around prediction markets, which currently operate in the province without a specific framework, according to Covers.

Event contracts remain a contested category across multiple jurisdictions, with regulators divided over whether to treat them as financial instruments or gambling products.

Milliard has said he would introduce legislation on the broader online gambling licensing plan within his first year in office if elected, meaning any concrete change is still tied to the Oct. 5 outcome and the pace of a new legislature.