Poker in Québec: Loto-Québec's monopoly and the live rooms

Québec did not follow Ontario. Online gambling here is still a provincial monopoly, and the province's poker energy has gone into its live rooms instead — two of the best in the country.

The legal position

Québec has not opened a competitive regulated market. Loto-Québec, the state corporation, runs the province's own online gambling platform, and the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux oversees gambling generally. There is no Québec equivalent of the AGCO register, so there is no such thing as a "Québec-licensed" private poker site.

Québec residents who play online poker do so on international sites. Canadian law has never made it an offence for an individual to play; the legal exposure, such as it is, has always been the operator's. That is the honest description, and it is general information rather than legal advice.

The minimum age is 18 — lower than most of the country.

Live poker: two of Canada's best rooms

Québec is where a lot of Canadian live poker actually happens.

Playground, in Kahnawà:ke just outside Montréal, is the country's flagship card room: forty-plus tables, no-limit hold'em from $1/$2 up to $10/$25, a deep PLO5 following, daily tournaments, and a bad beat jackpot that has been sitting above a million dollars. Waiting lists run through the PokerAtlas app. It hosts the WSOP Circuit's Canadian stop.

Casino de Montréal, Loto-Québec's own property on Île Notre-Dame, spreads eighteen no-limit hold'em tables from $1/$2, with tournaments Monday to Thursday and on Sundays.

Which rooms accept Québec players

ClubWPT Gold, the sweepstakes room available across most of Canada, does not operate in Québec — the province is excluded from its eligibility. That leaves the international real-money rooms, and it is worth reading our operator pages before depositing anywhere.

Tax

Recreational gambling winnings are not taxable in Canada, in Québec as elsewhere. Poker pursued as a business can be assessed as income. General information only — take advice if it matters.