Montreal online gambling triples since 2018 as most online players use unregulated sites
Montreal’s Regional Public Health Department (DRSP) released a report on November 5 showing that online gambling among the city’s adults has roughly tripled since 2018. The share of adults who reported gambling online rose from 4.4 per cent in 2018 to 13.3 per cent in 2025, even as overall participation in gambling declined. The study was produced with Concordia University’s Research Chair on Gambling Studies, led by sociology professor Sylvia Kairouz, and drew on a survey carried out in 2025 and 2026. Its most pointed finding for the provincial market is that a majority of online players use sites outside Loto-Québec’s regulated network.
Fewer Montrealers gamble, but more do it online
According to the DRSP, about 39 per cent of Montreal adults took part in at least one form of gambling in 2025, compared with 54.5 per cent in 2018. Over the longer run, the report puts participation at 74 per cent in 2002.
Online play moved the other way. The increase of 8.9 percentage points between 2018 and 2025 left the online participation rate at more than three times its earlier level.
Jean-François Biron, the DRSP’s specialist on gambling and hyperconnectivity, summed it up in an interview with QUB radio: participation has fallen in Montreal, but online gambling has tripled.
Kairouz noted that the pandemic fell between the two survey periods, and that the last Montreal data dated from 2018.
Majority of online players go outside Loto-Québec
Excluding online lottery ticket purchases, 38 per cent of online gamblers surveyed said they used only platforms operating outside the provincial framework. Another 16 per cent used both those sites and Loto-Québec, while 46 per cent stayed exclusively with Loto-Québec’s online offering.
Taken together, 54 per cent of online players in that analysis used unregulated sites at least some of the time.
The figure measures players, not money. The report does not establish what share of wagering or spending in Montreal flows to sites outside provincial oversight, so the 54 per cent cannot be read as a market share. The study itself described regulating this form of gambling as particularly complex and partially beyond the control of Quebec’s public authorities, because so many platforms operate from abroad.
Young men and advertising draw researchers' concern
The report singles out men aged 18 to 34 as the group most involved in online casino games, sports betting and poker. Among them, 7.4 per cent showed problematic gambling behaviour, compared with 4.6 per cent of gamblers overall, and men aged 18 to 24 were the ones who perceived the least risk.
Public opinion leaned toward tighter rules. Some 73 per cent of respondents supported banning online gambling advertising, whether from Loto-Québec or from unregulated sites, and 70 per cent said gambling was too accessible.
Kairouz told CTV News that Quebec lacks a strong regulator for online gambling and pointed to advertising restrictions adopted in Spain and Belgium.
The DRSP said the findings should prompt questions about Quebec’s existing regulatory models.
