Quebec to appeal Supreme Court verdict on gambling legislation

The Quebec government has decided to file an appeal against the Quebec Supreme Court verdict that deemed the government’s legal amendment to restrict online gaming through telecommunication service providers unlawful. The Quebec government is firm on it stand that they are acting in the best interests of their citizens. However, online gaming businesses and telecommunications service providers are against the appeal. They say that government is only trying to protect the interests of the state-owned lottery system that has not had as much success as the other lottery offerings in Canada. The Attorney General of Quebec has filed a notice of appeal with the Supreme Court.

Canada allows many different types of gambling in the country, and it is governed by each province, rather than nationally by the Canadian government. The province of Quebec allows casino gaming, as well as First Nation casinos. Lottery gaming, both online and onsite, is allowed in the province as well. The province also allows sports betting, online and onsite, but it does not currently allow single sport betting.

The Law

Lawmakers in Quebec passed Bill 74 in May of 2016. The legislation that passed mandates internet service providers to block the public’s access to all unlicensed gaming sites. The bill applies to any sites that are not regulated by the Quebec government. The government initially stated that over 2,200 websites would be blocked, which might mean up to 8.2 million residents could not access those sites banned by the government. In addition, internet service providers who refused to block sites could be subject to a $76,000 fine for each offense.

One of the problems with the law, according to researchers, is that the province does not license any other lottery site except its own, which many experts say results in a monopoly for the Quebec lottery site.

However, Quebec legislators have said that they passed the bill in order to protect the public from the social ills associated with gambling. The province pointed out that not only did the unlicensed sites have the potential to cause gambling addiction and other criminal behaviour in Quebec, but that the province was losing revenue from illegal gaming sites. It has been estimated by researchers that the province is losing millions of dollars in revenue.

Challenges to the View

However, the bill was challenged by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, because it argued that the ban would be expensive, and was not in line with Canada’s net neutrality. In addition, the companies argued that the ban on websites would not do any good, because many of the gaming websites are located offshore, and would not be affected by the ban.

The judge in the case sided with the Canadian telecommunications companies, and stated that the bill was not only against the best interests of the state, but was also a violation of the Canadian Radio-Television Commission Act, which argues against monopolies and for net neutrality.

Source:  USAonlinecasino.com