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33-552: The corporation operates lottery games such as draw games and scratch cards , casinos and gaming halls, bingo parlors , video lottery , and online gambling via its Espacejeux service. It is a member of the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation and administers national games within the province. Loto-Québec's activities are managed by several subsidiaries: Loto-Québec employs more than 5,000 people including nearly 4,500 in its four casinos. The corporation has

66-572: A 35% share ownership position. The other two partners are Bridgepoint Capital (55%) and a group of senior managers of this group formerly known as Moliflor Loisirs (10%). On November 2, 2006, the Quebec Cabinet authorized Loto-Québec to open four gaming halls in Québec, to be known as Ludoplexes, in Montreal, Quebec City, Trois-Rivières , and Mont-Tremblant . This authorization allowed Loto-Québec to reduce

99-518: A Public Health Warning. Following the March 10, 2006 publication of the government-ordered Guy Coulombe report that imposed strict conditions on the project, Cirque du Soleil withdrew from the project and the casino relocation proposal was dropped. On March 30, 2006, Loto-Québec became an official partner in the Casinos Développement Europe group through its Casino Mundial subsidiary, with

132-409: A card on a computer were available. Virtual cards could be bought, and prizes collected, over an Internet connection. A widespread misuse of scratchcards is the free-of-charge distribution of cards offering a range of prizes, ranging from extremely low-value to very desirable; for example from time-limited discount vouchers redeemable only through a specified agent to cars. Cards always reveal that

165-570: A greater rate than any other form of lottery. In the 21st century there have been attempts to increase the odds on finding a prize-winning card based on statistics , by tracking the amount of prize money won and cards sold to calculate accurate current odds. There have been a number of instances where a series of cards are still available although all major prizes have been won. Some lotteries make this information available to all free of charge to help promote their games. Hypothetically, large early payouts may exceed ultimate sales before expiration of

198-507: A prize has been won, but the nature and value of the prize can only be determined by phoning a premium rate telephone claim line costing a significant sum per minute. Calls to this number are designed by the promoter always to take several minutes, and the prize won is, in reality, always of far less value than the cost of the call, and usually not worth claiming. Regulatory authorities for telephone services have been taking action against such schemes, issuing warnings and large fines . Over

231-580: A program for the acquisition of contemporary Quebec art in its Collection Loto-Québec. The collection holds more than 4,900 works of art created by roughly 1,200 Quebec artists. In 1969, the Government of Quebec passed the Act respecting the Société des loteries du Québec, and created a government corporation to operate legalized games of chance in the province. The first draw made by the newly formed government corporation

264-669: A very popular form of gambling due to their low cost, their distribution in many corner stores and gas stations, and the opportunity to win instantly, as opposed to waiting for a draw like many lotteries. There is a trend towards more expensive scratchcards (20–50 USD) that have prizes in the millions of dollars. However, many such "instant" tickets sold in the US, especially in Massachusetts and New York, do not pay top prizes "instantly," but rather over many years, with no cash lump sum option. The popularity of lottery scratchcards has been increasing at

297-638: A window thereon and a removable opaque layer covering the window:" had already been available for a number of years. Simple prize scratchcards require the player, for example, to scratch off three (or more) areas hiding numbers, symbols, etc. If all the items revealed are the same, a prize has been won. More complicated scratchcards have several different ways to win on one card. Other scratchcards involve matching symbols, pictures or words, or are adaptations of popular (card-)games such as blackjack , poker or Monopoly . Games are also tied to popular themes such as Harley Davidson , Major League Baseball , NASCAR ,

330-572: Is a card designed for competitions, often made of thin cardstock or plastic to conceal PINs, where one or more areas contain concealed information which can be revealed by scratching off an opaque covering. Applications include; cards sold for gambling (especially, lottery games and quizzes), free-of-charge cards for quizzes, fraudulent free cards encouraging calls to premium rate phone services, and to conceal confidential information such as PINs for telephone calling cards (otherwise known as recharge cards) and other prepaid services. In some cases,

363-560: Is already a reality with more than 2,000 illegal gaming sites available and practically no responsible gaming measures in place." A petition was tabled in the National Assembly of Québec . Nonetheless, Loto-Québec launched its Espacejeux.com on December 1, 2010. On March 23, 2010, Quebec Superior Court Justice Gratien Duchesne approved the December 2009 out-of-court settlement. The plaintiffs acknowledged that video lottery terminals were not

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396-590: The National Hockey League , Marvel Comics and FIFA World Cup . There are currently two major manufacturers of game tickets: Scientific Games Corporation, with production facilities in the USA, Chile, UK, Germany, Canada, Brazil and Australia; and Pollard Banknote , with production facilities in the USA and Canada. There are several other smaller manufacturers in North America, Europe, and Asia. Scratchcards are

429-819: The litter problems associated with the improper disposal of non-winning lottery tickets. Since lottery tickets and scratchcards are considered in the United States to be bearer instruments under the Uniform Commercial Code , these scratchcard promotions can be entered with non-winning tickets that are picked up as litter. Break Opens , also known as breakopens , break open cards , strip tickets , pull-tabs, nevada tickets or in some Bingo Halls as "pickles" are lottery or bingo cards on which there are concealed letters, numbers, or symbols that have been predetermined as winners. The cards are often made of cardboard and contain perforated cover window tabs, behind which

462-481: The American company Scientific Games Corporation led by scientist John Koza and retail promotions specialist Daniel Bower produced the first computer-generated instant lottery game. In 1987, Astro-Med, Inc. of West Warwick, Rhode Island , received the U.S. Patent for the instant scratch-off lottery ticket, but the patent acknowledges that "instant-game tickets comprising a card having game-playing indicia imprinted on

495-541: The Quebec City casino opened on December 6, 2007. On June 24, 2009, the Casino de Mont-Tremblant was inaugurated, replacing the originally planned gaming hall in that location. Serge Chevalier estimates that the majority of revenues from these terminals come from problem gamblers, a conclusion that Loto-Québec contests. On September 15, 2008, begun in 2002 by former gambler Jean Brochu , the suit accused Loto-Québec of encouraging

528-511: The Société des bingos du Québec (SBQ) launched Kinzo, a bingo hall concept that features shorter games and a lounge-like atmosphere with bar service, designed to appeal to younger clientele than traditional bingo halls. Scratchcard A scratchcard (also called a scratch off , scratch ticket , scratcher , scratchum , scratch-it , scratch game , scratch-and-win , instant game , instant lottery , scratchie , lot scrots , or scritchies )

561-519: The UK are still sold even after the jackpots have already been won. Research by The Guardian newspaper found that the £250,000 Gold game, which advertises 15 top prizes worth a quarter of a million pounds each, were still being sold after all 15 jackpots had been claimed. This happened again in May 2018, in which the 20X Cash Scratchcard was still being sold after the last jackpot prize was claimed. Many lotteries since

594-579: The card body, labels are distinctly separate to the card body and applied by adhesion which makes them prone to sophisticated and fraudulent manipulation. Another technology-enabled form of scratch card can also be found online in the form of mobile applications. They are usually programmed by game developers and published on appropriate app stores such as the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for review and publication. The original game tickets were produced using manual randomization techniques. In 1974

627-488: The card wins or loses. In these cases, the card becomes invalid if too many areas are scratched. After losing, one can scratch all areas to see if, how, and what one could have won with this card. The scratchcard itself is made of paper-based card, or plastic, with hidden information such as PIN or HRN (Hidden Recharge Number) printed on it, covered by an opaque substance (usually latex ). The original cards were covered with an environmentally unsafe solvent based coating. In

660-451: The cause of compulsive gambling . The Government of Quebec agreed to refund the cost of therapy for compulsive gamblers in 1994–2002. Québec Medicare covers the costs since 2002. The agreement capped the total amount of indemnity payments at $ 50 million, whereas the plaintiff had claimed damages of around $ 800 million for their estimated 120,000 compulsive gamblers in Québec (this figure has been contested by Loto-Québec). On October 19, 2010,

693-563: The combinations are printed. The purchaser must "break open" the card, or pull up the pull-tabs, to see the information printed within, and then must confirm with winning combinations printed on the back of the card, various cards may have come from the printer highlighted as winning under the tabs. The winning combination will be highlighted, making the identification of winning tickets easier. By around 2010 online versions of virtual "scratchcard" (not physical cards) gambling games which utilized Macromedia Flash and Java to simulate scratching

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726-647: The entire game of chance industry. On June 22, 2005, in partnership with Cirque du Soleil , Loto-Québec proposed to relocate the Casino de Montréal in the Peel Street Basin, close to the Old Port's Cité du Havre , to become part of an entertainment complex that would include a hotel and a performance hall. The project was criticised by the population, the EmJEU coalition, and the Montreal public health authority, which issued

759-459: The entire scratchable area needs to be scratched to see whether a prize has been won—the card is printed either to be a winner or not—or to reveal the secret code; the result does not depend upon what portions are scratched off. In other cases, some but not all areas have to be scratched; this may apply in a quiz, where the area corresponding to the right answer is scratched, or in some gambling applications where, depending on which areas are scratched,

792-565: The field of responsible gaming by the World Lottery Association (WLA). On January 26, 2010, the Government of Québec authorized the Société des loteries du Québec to offer online gaming and made its decision public on February 3 of the same year. With oppositions from Institut national de santé publique du Québec  [ fr ] managers and the EmJEU coalition for a government moratorium , Loto-Québec stated that "online gaming

825-533: The first pan-Canadian lottery, with a jackpot of C$ 500,000. In 1993, a weekly game show produced by Loto-Québec and Canadian broadcaster TVA made its debut as La Poule aux œufs d'or . Each week, contestants will choose one of twenty-four golden eggs to win cash prizes. The show was first hosted by Guy Mongrain . On May 25, 2004, activists and public personalities came together to create the EmJEU coalition (Ethics for moderation in gambling). The members demanded secure and ethical administration at Loto-Québec and for

858-424: The game card series. However, the low odds of winning – typically from less than 1 in 5 to about 1 in 2.5 – and players who buy cards unaware of the low return offset these losses, so the lottery still makes a profit. Many state lotteries also run a second-chance sweepstakes in conjunction with the retail sale of state lottery scratchcards in an effort to increase consumer demand for scratchcards and to help control

891-455: The late 1980s, adhesive specialist Jerome Greenfield invented a safe water-based coating still used in scratchers today that can be scratched off relatively easily, while resistant to normal abrasion. Other types of scratch panel are scratch labels, hot stamp foil or 'sandwich' label which are technologies that is easy to produce for manufacturers without specialised equipment for applying latex panels. Unlike silkscreen latex panels that bond with

924-403: The number of VLTs, intended to tighten access, as a part of its 2004 development plan. The plan has, among other features, a reduction. The number of VLTs dropped 20%, from 14,301 in 2006 to 11,410 in 2009, while the number of VLT locations went from 3663 to 2327. The 11,410 video lottery terminals generate sales of $ 670   million. The Trois-Rivières casino was opened on October 25, 2007, and

957-418: The provinces, Loto-Canada was dissolved in 1979, and the management and operation of games of chance fell under provincial jurisdiction. Provinces are, however, required to transfer a part of their lottery profits to the federal government. In 2006, this transfer amounted to C$ 14.1 million. In 1976, Loto-Québec held its first million-dollar draw in a lottery called Super Loto. On June 12, 1982, Lotto 6/49 became

990-561: The start of the 2010s have begun to have their retailers print out up-to-date game lists from their terminals daily or weekly (often with the force of state, provincial, or national law after consumer watchdog organizations or television station investigative units have exposed the practice), which note games where jackpots have already been won or which have large prizes left, along with up-to-date winners' lists on their websites. Scratchcards can also be used to distribute confidential information, without any element of chance. A common example

1023-403: The use of VLTs without informing users of the danger of developing a dependency on this type of game of chance. An out-of-court settlement between the parties was reached in December 2009. In March 2009, Loto-Québec announced a plan to renovate the Casino de Montréal for C$ 100 million. On April 1, 2009, Loto-Québec was awarded the highest available level of international certification (Level 4) in

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1056-437: The years, many lotteries have continued to sell scratch games, while failing to disclose that the larger prizes or jackpot have already been claimed in order to discourage players from no longer playing a won scratch game, though before the 2000s and direct connections between the lottery and their sales terminals could be made, there was no expectation of this to be known. In February 2018 it was reported that some scratch cards in

1089-517: Was held on March 14, 1970, and the lottery, called Inter Loto, had a jackpot of C$ 125,000, while tickets cost $ 2. At the time, no law specified which level of government would have jurisdiction over the operation of games of chance. For this reason, the Government of Canada created a lottery in 1972 to finance the 1976 Summer Olympics to be held in Montreal . In 1976, that organization became known as Loto-Canada. However, due to sustained pressure from

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