Provincial lottery operator Loto-Quebec has reaffirmed its plans to launch online gaming to Quebec residents during the final quarter of 2010. The gaming will include such things as table games, sports betting and most importantly, online poker. In partnership with the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, online poker will be offered across a common platform to those residents and it is done this way to ensure player liquidity.
Loto-Quebec confirmed this partnership and noted that the poker platform will be provided by Boss Media /GTECH G2, which is the same software provider that has already been established in the virtual poker world by such brands as Paradise Poker, Sporting Bet and Inter Poker to name a few. Loto-Quebec President and CEO Alain Cousineau said that various measures will be put into use to make sure that the online gaming users have access to a “secure, legal and above-board” site in the fourth quarter of 2010.
“We will be offering Quebecers a choice of entertaining games like poker, various table games and sports betting within a controlled circuit and in a secure environment whose integrity will be beyond question,” Cousineau said. He also promised that Loto-Quebec will be implementing a series of prevention and control measures that will be among the industry’s best and most innovative.
Furthermore, upon approval for this project by the provincial government, Cousineau stated that Loto-Quebec would work hand in hand with the Online Gaming Monitoring Committee set up by the government to study the effects of online gambling. The Committee is headead by Louise Nadeau, a University of Montreal psychology professor and his role, as well as the committee’s role is to monitor the new site and the games offered to understand how well it is working and what could be altered. He will submit recommendations and advice to Finance Minister Raymond Bachand within three years.
In order for this to be a successful endeavour, Loto-Quebec has also partnered with OpenBet, a software company that will provide the customer account management software as well as some table games for this online venture.
David Loveday, CEO OpenBet Ltd, said this week: “We are proud to be partnering with Loto-Quebec who will be able to utilize our technical infrastructure to successfully launch their online gaming business in a new and exciting market.”
With the online poker world exploding in Canada, and after some recent success by Quebecers Miguel Proulx and Pascal Lefrancois last month at this year’s WSOP, Quebec poker players will now have a local, secure site that players can use to hone their skills on the felt; albeit a virtual one.
