The number of registrations for Loto-Québec’s self-exclusion program for online gambling has increased markedly during the pandemic.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Weighed down by the closure of casinos and gaming halls, registrations in establishments are still slow to return to their pre-pandemic level, reveal figures obtained through the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information.
But no matter where players sign up for this program, described as a solution of last resort by experts, their number has never been so high since its creation by Loto-Québec in 1993.
For example, the online component of Loto-Québec’s self-exclusion program has seen its popularity skyrocket. No less than 7,353 Quebecers asked to be excluded from the Crown corporation’s web platforms in 2020-2021, much more than the 4,276 of the previous year and the 3,507 of 2018-2019, the last full pre-pandemic year. Since then, their number has fallen slightly in 2021-2022, to 6,231, although the data obtained by The Press end on February 18, 2022.
Meanwhile, the opposite trend has been observed in gaming establishments across the province. In 2018-2019, each institution recorded an average of 1,483 enrollments in the program. This figure fell slightly in 2019-20, to 1,431, before dropping drastically in 2020-2021, to 111. Institutional registrations have since risen to an average of 391. The majority of players choose to register in all establishments, specifies Loto-Québec.
In comparison, in 2017-2018, 3,298 people requested to be excluded from Loto-Québec’s online gaming platforms. An average of 1,420 Quebecers had also done so directly in an establishment, either in the casinos of Montreal, Lac-Leamy, Charlevoix or Mont-Tremblant, or in the gaming halls of Quebec or Trois-Rivières.
All categories combined, the popularity of the program has not been denied either since the arrival of COVID-19 and the start of successive confinements. According to figures provided by Loto-Québec, 7,429 people registered for it this year (which ended on March 31), barely less than the peak of 7,480 for 2020-2021. This was an increase of 41% compared to the last pre-pandemic year, ie 2028-2019, when 5,290 customers had asked Loto-Québec to be denied access to its sites.
No enrollment targets
According to Loto-Québec, the marked increase in registrations shows that the program is “working well”. As for the increase in registrations for online gambling, it is explained by the temporary closure of the establishments of the Crown corporation, indicates the spokesperson for Loto-Québec, Renaud Dugas.
During the pandemic, some customers turned to lotoquebec.com when our establishments were closed. The number of people who asked to self-exclude from the online gambling site followed the same trend.
Renaud Dugas, Loto-Quebec spokesperson
The same goes for the drop in enrollment in establishments. In addition to the Crown Corporation offices in Montreal and Quebec City as well as certain designated help centres, these are the only places where registration is possible.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Enrollment in establishments is still slow to return to its pre-pandemic level.
When registering, all self-excluded clients are systematically offered to receive a “Game: help and referral” call to inform them of the help resources available to support them in their process. Most clients turning to self-exclusion also withdraw from all establishments, not just one.
Loto-Québec specifies that it does not have a target for increasing or decreasing the number of registrations for its self-exclusion program. However, the government corporation is aiming for a high rate of self-excluded gamblers to take part in the assistance services offered by “Jeu: aide etreflection”, a telephone information, referral and support service on compulsive gambling, without specifying how big.
Exam time come?
The experts consulted by The Press are not surprised by the constant increase in self-exclusions for online gambling, but believe that it is time for Loto-Québec to rethink its approach to prevention.
“There has definitely been a migration from offline gaming to online gaming [durant la pandémie]. […] With more people, we will end up with more people proportionally who will want [s’autoexclure] says Sylvia Kairouz, holder of the Research Chair in the Study of Gambling at Concordia University, who remains “a bit critical” of the Loto-Québec program.
These are people who are already in desperate situations. The self-exclusion program really comes as a last resort. He is good, but [la] prevention, we want it to happen even before self-exclusion.
Sylvia Kairouz, Concordia University Research Chair in Gambling
An opinion shared by Jean-François Biron, researcher at the Montreal Regional Public Health Department, according to whom Loto-Quebec could do more to publicize the program.
“People who are self-excluded are really the tip of the iceberg. It’s a good thing it’s in place. Is there a way to make it known more? Yes,” he says.
The growing role of online gambling worries Sylvia Kairouz, however, to a certain extent. “If the migration to online gaming is transitory, or to pass the time [pendant la pandémie], it is not a public health problem. »
Added to the fact that it is “more accessible”, online gaming also pushes customers to play “more intensively”, especially in a pandemic context, where they are more isolated, she explains. This is why Loto-Québec’s self-exclusion program deserves to be dusted off, according to her.
“When we are in physical places, we are in the presence of the players, there are many more possibilities of intervening, whereas online, it is up to the good will of the player, explains Mme Kairouz. The challenges of online gambling in terms of prevention are enormous. Everything we give at the moment is very limited. A player must go to the site to register, when he should be given ways to limit his amounts [et] his playing time.
With the collaboration of William Leclerc, The Press
The ABCs of the self-exclusion program?
Introduced in 1993, self-exclusion is a voluntary program under which a player agrees to no longer frequent Loto-Québec gaming establishments (casinos or gaming halls). The player then authorizes Loto-Québec to take steps to deny him access to its establishments. By showing up at the places provided, the client is photographed for identification purposes and chooses the duration of his self-exclusion.