The minister was reacting to opposition from public health officials in Quebec’s 18 regions who object to Loto-Québec’s plans to enter online gambling. Bachand said Quebec is not alone in occupying this new gambling niche.

“It’s not for monetary reasons that Sweden and Great Britain and the northern European countries have gone into that,” he said. “The role of the state is to channel gambling in a responsible manner.”

Public health authorities see online gambling as a new source of problem gambling.

“We respect their opinion,” the minister said. “They are saying there is a risk there.

“Our role in government is to take into account all points of view.”

He recalled the same concerns were raised when Loto-Québec was founded in 1969, but said the government cannot ignore online gambling.

“The phenomenon of gambling is there,” he said. “The Internet is there.”

Bachand compared online gambling with video poker machines in bars, which he said were controlled by organized crime before Loto-Québec became involved.

“It displaced $600 million of organized-crime money,” he said.

“There’s a phenomenon, a worldwide phenomenon,” Bachand said, noting Loto-Québec won the the top prize in a world rating of socially responsible gambling operations.

“There are people who have pathological problems with gambling,” he admitted. “It’s less than one per cent and we have to take care of these people.