Quebec’s Plan to Ban Online Gaming Access for Citizens Rejected by Court

Quebec’s efforts to ban citizens from unauthorized online gaming sites s been rejected by the Supreme Court. The court stated that the plan was unconstitutional because it infringed on federal jurisdiction.

The province had implemented legislation two years ago requiring internet service providers to block users from accessing online gambling sites that weren’t authorized by Loto-Quebec. The legislation gave rise to accusations that the state was attempting to censor the internet and go against the tenets of net neutrality.

Interestingly enough, Quebec doesn’t possess the authority to pass such legislation as the telecommunications and criminal law are overseen by the federal government. The recent ruling from the Supreme Court reaffirmed this.

Pleased

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), which had challenged Quebec’s legislation, stated earlier this week that it was satisfied with the recent ruling. A spokesperson from the association sent out an email stating that the CWTA had always supported symmetrical and proportional federal regulations against individual provincial regulations.

Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, said that the court got things right. Geist also sits on the Canada Research Chair for Internet and E-Commerce Law. According to the academician, the Supreme Court’s ruling sends out a strong message to provincial governments that regulation through blocking isn’t the best solution.

An attempt to save the Loto-Quebec

In 2015, the Finance Department of Loto-Quebec found that the state-owned online gambling platform was losing revenue. As a bid to prevent even more losses, the state of Quebec decided to ban unauthorized online gambling sites from being accessed.

According to Finance Minister Carlo Leitao, the law was needed to protect citizens from illegal online gambling sites because they did not offer the protections typically provided by Loto-Quebec.

However, Justice Pierre Nollet disagreed. According to Nollet, the law was only put in place to prevent access to sites that weren’t controlled by the government and not to protect consumers.

Geist echoed the same sentiment, suggesting that Quebec was only looking to save Loto-Quebec’s revenue. In fact, he claimed that the state did not even hide their true intentions until the legislation was challenged by the Supreme Court. It was only then that the safety and protection angle was brought up.