Loto-Quebec, the Gambling Lord of the North

Walking around the Centre Eaton, the center of shopping in Montreal, we came across this kiosk for Loto-Quebec.

This state monopoly is the equivalent of PAGCOR and PCSO combined and they are everywhere. (Loto-Quebec runs all games of chance in Quebec, including casinos and lotteries.)

Their 2006 revenue was about P200 billion, 75% of which came from lotteries and P38 billion from 3 casinos. In contrast, PAGCOR revenue is about P25 billion from 14 casinos and PCSO only made P15 billion.

We spotted several other kiosks and on every floor, there were other simple outlets in souvenir shops and other stores looking to sell Lotto tickets along with Montreal keychains and other knickknacks.

Within the kiosks themselves, several "games" are available. The punter simply takes a card and darkens the numbers he wants and submits it to the elderly (they almost all were senior citizens) cashier, who then slips the card into a machine, which outputs a thermal receipt.

Interestingly, among its many lottery formats there is also a 6/49 lotto, exactly like the PCSO has here in the Phils. I note that the progressively increasing jackpot was at $35 million, which would be about P1.75 billion here! The PCSO 6/49 rarely gets into the hundreds of millions and when it does, people are lined up to buy tickets. Here, there was very little traffic at the kiosk.