Settlement in Loto-Quebec Class Action: VLTs Do Not Cause Pathological Gambling

After almost a decade of litigation, including a trial that dragged on for more than a year, a settlement was reached in Brochu v. Loto-Quebec, a class action brought on behalf of gamblers at video lottery terminals (VLTs) in the Canadian province. The plaintiffs claimed that the VLTs were inherently addictive. The core terms of the deal, which still must be approved by the Quebec Superior Court, are:

• The government entity that operates the VLTs in Quebec will pay the medical costs incurred by pathological gamblers in the province before 2002, when the provincial government began to pay those costs directly. Although the plaintiffs initially demanded 700 million Canadian dollars, published estimates placed the likely total at CA$50 million.
• The stipulation of settlement states that VLTs are not the "cause of pathological gambling." With similar lawsuits pending in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Ontario, that provision may be of considerable value to the defendants in those actions.

At one point in the lawsuit, the plaintiffs tried to sue the manufacturers of the VLTs, as well, but abandoned that strategy. Under Canadian law, the provincial government paid the plaintiffs' legal fees once the court certified the case as a class action. Those fees approached $CA3 million.

The Quebec court has scheduled a hearing in March, following notice of the settlement to all members of the plaintiff class, to decide whether to approve the settlement.