Loto-Quebec Trial Begins

After seven years of pretrial discovery and motions practice, the trial of the class action complaint in Brochu v. Loto-Quebec began on September 15, before Judge Gratien Duchesne of the Superior Court in Quebec. On behalf of 119,000 supposed addicted gamblers in the province of Quebec, the plaintiffs are demanding more than $700 million in damages they say were caused by Loto-Quebec's 15,000 video lottery terminals (VLTs).

The plaintiffs began their presentation with a 69-year-old retired journalist who testified, "Gambling was like a drug to me. It was all I could think of. It consumed me."

To prevail, the plaintiffs will have to demonstrate that their gambling habits represent a diagnosable mental illness and that the VLTs caused that illness. Defense lawyer Yvan Bolduc began the case by arguing that the causes for pathological gambling vary from person to person, but most often originate in personal problems experienced by the gambler.

The trial, which will proceed four days every week for three weeks of each month, is expected to last until at least March 2009.