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Quebec Government May Force ISPs To Block Gambling Websites

Posted by Soulskill on from the good-luck-on-your-saving-throw dept.

New submitter ottawan- writes: In order to drive more customers to their own online gambling website, the Quebec government and Loto-Quebec (the provincial organization in charge of gaming and lotteries) are thinking about forcing the province's ISPs to block all other online gambling websites. The list of websites to be blocked will be maintained by Loto-Quebec, and the government believes that the blocking will increase government revenue by up to $27 million (CAD) per year.

15 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Crooked politicians. by catsRus · · Score: 2

    Nice to see that American politicians are not the only crooks with too much power. Now what do we do about it?

    1. Re:Crooked politicians. by naughtynaughty · · Score: 2

      Educate people on the benefits of a VPN connection

    2. Re:Crooked politicians. by hodet · · Score: 2

      and you could even get a Canadian VPN just based in another province. This stuff is so lame.

    3. Re:Crooked politicians. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nice to see that American politicians are not the only crooks with too much power. Now what do we do about it?

      When US politicians try to ban online gambling, it's not to drive business to government gambling sites, but rather to drive business to Sheldon Adelson. I guess they figure if you're going to be corrupt, you might as well be corrupt for someone who pays better than the government.

      http://arstechnica.com/tech-po...

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    4. Re:Crooked politicians. by houghi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Educate people that gambling is bad.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  2. A lot of the online gambling industry is located by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A lot of the world's online gambling industry happens to be located in the province. (Porn too but that's a different story)

    Will this have an adverse effect, such as the industry leaving? Do these pay taxes to the government anyway? Many are "natives"...

    Will this really happen or just some rumors? This initiative has failure written all over it..

    Interestingly, the leader of the opposition owns the largest ISP in the province and he's quite right-wing. Not sure he's gonna go for that...

  3. Slashdot doing community service. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2
    People of Quebec, take a look at the previous story: http://hardware.slashdot.org/s...

    You can figure out a way if they really manage to get ISPs to block the gambling sites.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  4. How about driving traffic the old fashioned way? by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    By having a product that people want to use.

  5. Re:Proxy Servers by danbob999 · · Score: 2

    There is already no reason to use foreign gambling sites. If you need to setup a VPN or proxy, it's enough to convert 99% of the people to Lotto-Quebec.

  6. It's the law here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Seriously, Loto Quebec is basically the law when it comes to gambling stuff. Anybody who doesn't pay them, cannot legally operate any sort of gambling or giveaways in Quebec. Which is why 99.99% of online giveaways, even if they are based in Canada, exclude Quebec.

    1. Re:It's the law here... by KiloByte · · Score: 3, Funny

      Let me say it in french so it's pretty clear:
      Fuck you, Loto-Québec.

      As they're from Quebec, this won't work. You need to name some church utensils or furniture instead.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  7. Lots of new revenue by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

    $27M coming in
    How much is it going to cost to implement, enforce and maintain? More than $27M probably.

  8. not legal by BradMajors · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Doing so is illegal under WTO rules:

    http://www.wired.co.uk/news/ar...

  9. Re:Proxy Servers by encyclo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sure, that's a workaround, but it doesn't solve the real problem - because the problem is not connecting to blocked sites (I have absolutely no interest in online gambling). The real problem is censorship.

    So we in Quebec must fight this proposal - not because it has anything to do with gambling, but because it restricts our freedom.

  10. Will they block Kahnawake? by ghn · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is located inside the Quebec borders, and they operate a large datacenter dedicated to online gambling.. They host many high-profile gambling site.

    This is not a "foreign" operation at all.

    Will ppl have to VPN through the USA or another canadian province to come back to a QC operated gambling site. That is ridiculous..

    https://www.gamingcommission.c...