Recently online gamblers in the Canadian province of Quebec experienced a landmark day. It was the grand opening of the province’s first government-licensed online gambling website, espacejeux.com. The online casino is run by the province’s lottery monopoly, Loto-Quebec.

The local news has reported that hundreds of players visited the casino website during its first day of operation. That number actually sounds low to me, but the media may have underreported the number (they have been known to do that when they oppose something).

To coincide with the launch of the new online casino, Loto-Quebec offered some enticing deals. Or if you read the press, they “lured” poor innocent people to their website with deals that are too good to pass up, knowing those players will eventually become degenerate gambling addicts who will end up living on the street and hooked on crack.

One such deal was a $20 “free bet” offer that was sent to members of Loto-Quebec’s loyalty program, called Casino Privileges. Approximately 100,000 members were sent that special offer, letting them bet $20 on the house with no deposit necessary. Anyone who preregistered for the online casino were also offered a $10 free bet.

Opponents of casino expansion pounced on those promotions for enticing players to join the casino. Um, doesn’t any company want to influence people into patronizing them? Opponents think that even if the online casino is allowed to exist, it shouldn’t be allowed to try to attract customers. I know this is Canada we’re talking about, but I figured they knew a little more about capitalism than that.

Of course, Loto-Quebec’s espacejeux.com isn’t the only game in town and probably not even the best game in town. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission, made up of the Mohawks of Kahnawake, also offer online gambling. Just don’t tell Loto-Quebec’s opponents about that. They might have a heart attack.

Tags: Canada online gambling, Quebec online casino

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 at 10:13 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.