The Gazette
Tuesday 7 August 2001
Professional gamblers know that the trick to staying in business is to gamble as little as possible. A wager is placed only after a dispassionate assessment of the odds, an appraisal of the random elements that could change those odds and the amount of return against investment those odds will produce. You also don't play with money you can't afford to lose.
This is not the kind of informed, cold-blooded analysis or fiscal restraint one might expect from your average 15-year-old (or, given the $639 million in profit Loto-Quebec recorded last year, from the average adult). That's why the provincial government, after being shamed into the move in a campaign championed by Liberal MNA Russ Williams, decided to crack down on Loto-Quebec vendors who sold lottery tickets to minors. Or at least said it would.
When Bill 84 was tabled in November of 1999, Bernard Landry, then deputy premier, said that while requiring vendors to seek proof of age from potential lottery-ticket buyers might entail an additional burden for retailers "we are doing it for a superior good: the protection of youth."
It's a noble sentiment, but if the results of a survey conducted last weekend by a Montreal West consulting firm are any indication, it's an empty one.
A 15-year-old girl, who looks pretty much like a 15-year-old, was able to purchase lottery tickets in 33 of the 35 west-end Montreal retail outlets she visited. Her success rate would be less shocking were it not for the fact that a similar survey conducted in May of last year yielded virtually the same results, with 20 of the establishments having illegally sold tickets in the first survey repeating their offence in the second.
Sol Boxenbaum, who runs the consulting firm that conducted the surveys, says the results indicate that the profits realized from the sale of lottery tickets outweigh the mild bite of a fine. Under the law, businesses that sell a lottery ticket to anyone under age 18 can face fines of $300 to $2,000 for a first offence and $600 to $6,000 for a repeat offence.
There is no provision in the law to withdraw the lottery sales permit from a retailer caught breaking the provisions of Bill 84. Until there is, surveys like that conducted last weekend will continue to yield the same results.
Bernard Landry is now premier, and there's no reason to doubt his feelings on the issue of underage gambling have changed. As premier he should amend the law - and quickly - to make the sale of lottery tickets to minors sufficient cause to immediately yank a retailer's lucrative sales permit.
There may be some stores that might want to run the risk of falling afoul of a Quebec anti-gambling law with teeth. But for most, the odds say it's a bet they won't take.
