Quebec Gaming Commission Cheating on Problem Gambling Study

The Quebec gaming regulatory body apparently chose to delete passages it found harmful to its case when submitting a problem gambling study to a court.

Trapped in the midst of a contentious lawsuit, the Quebec Gaming Commission was caught red-faced as it attempted to censor parts of its own compulsive gambling study before submitting the report to the court. After receiving a 114-page result from the investigation in 2003, the commission edited the findings, removing concerns about the provincial video lottery gaming system before turning them over to Quebec Superior Court.

Loto-Quebec, the gambling branch of the province, is being sued for over a billion dollars in a class-action suit brought by over a hundred thousand supposed gambling addicts. The cause for the suit is the contention Loto-Quebec and the Gaming Commission don't adequately warn about gambling's dangers.

The state certainly comes off worse after deleting passages that said the commission is in a position of conflict of interest, as it is charged with promoting gambling while guarding against social costs. Also removed were suggestions to increase government spending on treatment of problem gambling and to limit the proximity of ATMs to video lottery machines.

"The Gaming Commission has shot itself in the foot," says OCA analyst Sherman Bradley. "The plaintiffs were hard-pressed to prove they aren't just a group who lost some money on the lottery, rather than addicts inflicted by state wrong-doing. But now, Quebec looks guilty by its own actions."

Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis is investigating the allegations.

"This story troubles me," the minister said in a statement. "That's why I have asked the deputy minister of public security to conduct an investigation to get to the bottom of things."