Even before the Direction de la santé publique de Montréal makes an official decision, Québec solidaire is positioning itself against the proposed gaming hall at the Bell Center put forward by Loto-Québec.
“Concentrating a game offer in vulnerable populations is not a good idea. We do not understand that Loto-Québec comes up with such a project, says the co-head of Québec solidaire (QS), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. The pandemic has already increased online gambling, now is not the time to concentrate a gambling offer in such an area. »
He points out that the last public health study, dating from 2017, had clearly established that downtown Montreal was a “red zone”, where the gambling offer was already significant, and the population, vulnerable.
The Press revealed two weeks ago that Loto-Québec had reached an agreement with the Bell Center to open a brand new gaming lounge in the 1909 Taverne Moderne restaurant, which has been closed since the pandemic. This huge three-storey establishment would house more than 300 slot machines as well as sports betting terminals. The gaming lounge would be open seven days a week, from noon to three in the morning.
The establishment has a door that faces the street, so it would not be exclusively reserved for ticket holders at the Bell Centre. “We will not close the door to any customer who wishes to enter,” said Mr. Bergeron in an interview with host Paul Arcand.
The QS candidate in Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, says he is being talked about a lot about the project by community groups in the riding, geographically very close to the city center.
“The Bell Center is located a few blocks from the riding. The populations are adjacent. Groups in the neighborhood have the impression of reliving the saga of the casino at Peel Basin. They feel like they’re playing the exact same movie again, he says. On the ground, people are alarmed. »
The QS candidate wonders how the arguments that prevailed over the Peel Basin casino project, which was to be completed in 2005 in partnership with Cirque du Soleil, would be less valid twenty years later. “It’s disturbing that there is a round two, with exactly the same kind of project,” said Mr. Cliche-Rivard.
In the wake of the opening of the gaming hall at the Bell Centre, the CEO of Loto-Québec, Jean-François Bergeron, clearly indicated that the opening of such establishments was in the plans of the state corporation. He said he wanted to remove devices from bars and concentrate them in a more limited number of gambling establishments.
“The problem is not the number of machines, it’s the number of doors. There are too many doors, Mr. Bergeron said. The offer must be migrated. According to Mr. Bergeron, research shows that the risk of becoming a problem gambler decreases in establishments such as a gambling hall, where other types of entertainment are offered.
Clearly, Québec solidaire disagrees with this approach. “It’s not for nothing that we put the casino on Île Notre-Dame. Here, we are going completely in the opposite direction, ”observes Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
For Loto-Québec, the gaming lounge project aims in particular to fight against online gambling, which exploded during the pandemic. A survey carried out in 2021 by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) showed that 20% of Quebecers had been tempted by the experience of online gaming. For half of them, it was a very first experience. In several addiction treatment centers, the majority of problem gamblers now gamble online.