Deps worry over online lotto ticket sales

Depanneurs are worried sales will drop if Loto-Quebec starts selling tickets online.

Sports betting tickets may be available online as early as January 2012. A Loto-Quebec spokesperson says there is no specific date set.

The vice-president of the Canadian Convenience Stores Association says this would affect depanneurs’ profits. He says stores depend on alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets to stay in business. He says six hundred deps in Quebec closed in the last three years.

He says the association will do a study of what losses might be and send it to the finance minister.