Government officials in Quebec have decided they have had their fill of illegal online gambling.
Illegal online gambling, the new mainstream for gamblers, has been taking a toll on Quebec’s legal online gambling and officials are attempting to say enough is enough.
To create this blacklist, Quebec is budgeting money to mainstream blocking of any ISP addresses that lead to online gambling sites outside the country. The budget, which is now available online, is thoroughly explained in its 600-page outline. Flushdraw.net provides a snippet of the budget explaining, “For the purpose of curbing illegal online gambling, amendments will be made to the Consumer Protection Act, the Act respecting the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux [the RACJ is the Quebec agency that regulates the province’s alcohol, lottery, publicity contests, gambling, racing, and combat sports industries] and the Act respecting [Loto-Québec] so that Internet service providers are not allowed to provide access to an online gaming and gambling website whose name is on a list of illegal sites drawn up by Loto-Québec.”
If and when this blacklist is implemented, it will benefit the government owned Loto-Québec. Though last year Loto-Québec brought in a profit of 27 million CAD, the government hopes it will increase with the blacklist.
This new oversight has not set well with people in the country, or even with people in other provinces of Canada. They reason that this will impose controls on such things as free speech. In addition, they feel that Quebec does not have the legal right to implement such a blacklist, as things like this are supposed to be in the federal jurisdiction rather than provincial.
It may come as a surprise to some that a few online gambling sites are happy with this decision. Pokerstars in the United States, which is also trying to get out-of- country online gambling banned, and in-country online gambling legalized, is in favor of another province attempting this very action. Even still, this budget has a way to go before it is approved. So don’t jump to any conclusions just yet.
For more information on the Quebec blacklist, check out flushdraw.net.
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