Social Casinos and Sweepstakes in Quebec

Quebec’s gambling and lottery age is 18, and Loto-Québec, the provincial gaming corporation, runs online play at lotoquebec.com. The usual explanation for why Quebec is so often carved out of sweepstakes and contests, the RACJ’s publicity-contest regime, ended on October 27, 2023. Many promotions still exclude Quebec anyway, so the rules of each one are what decide whether you can enter.

Who runs gambling in Quebec?

Two names matter, and they do different jobs.

Loto-Québec is the operator. It runs the state casinos and offers online games at lotoquebec.com. Its online terms, as of October 2026, open play to Quebec residents aged 18 or older, require identity checks before an account is active, and require you to be in the province when you log in. The old espacejeux.com address now redirects to lotoquebec.com’s online games page, although parts of the site and the terms still use the Espacejeux name.

The Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ) is the provincial body that licenses bingos, draws and other lotteries run by organizations, amusement machines and video lottery sites. For Loto-Québec’s state casinos its role is narrower: it sets hiring rules, approves the labs that certify gaming equipment, and checks that machines return at least 83% to players, as advertised.

Both rest on the federal rule in section 207 of the Criminal Code, which lets each province conduct and manage its own lottery schemes.

Why do sweepstakes and contests exclude Quebec?

For years, Quebec had its own paperwork for publicity contests. Under the RACJ’s rules, an organizer running a contest open to Quebec residents generally had to file a notice of the contest with the Régie and pay duties. Bigger contests, with prizes worth more than $2,000 in total, also needed a report within 60 days of naming the winners. A security deposit could be required, and the list of winners went to the Régie. That extra layer is the usual explanation for the familiar “void in Quebec” line in contest rules.

That regime is gone. The RACJ confirms that the Act sanctioned on October 27, 2023 (L.Q. 2023, chapter 24) abolished the formalities and the duties for publicity contests. Organizers can still run contests in Quebec and residents can still enter. If a contest goes wrong, the Régie now points people to a lawyer or the ordinary courts, such as small claims. Only contests declared to the RACJ before that date stay under the old rules.

So why do so many sweepstakes casinos and contests still exclude Quebec? The rules rarely say. As of October 2026, an exclusion may be a leftover or a choice made for reasons the operator does not publish. Treat the eligibility clause in the current official rules as the only answer that counts, and check our list of which sweepstakes brands accept Canadians before you collect coins you cannot redeem.

Federal law did not change. The skill-testing question still applies in Quebec, as everywhere in Canada.

How a Loto-Québec account differs from a social casino app

Loto-Québec’s online terms, as of October 2026, show what a regulated account involves:

• One account per person, opened with your full name, date of birth, address and identity documents, and validated before you can play.
• Deposits in Canadian dollars only; unless the site says otherwise, prepaid cards and some credit cards are refused.
• A weekly deposit limit that every player sets, from $25 to $9,999. Lowering it takes effect at once; raising it takes 24 hours.
• Winnings paid into your account and withdrawn to a personal bank account you link to it, with a $10 minimum for bank withdrawals.
• An account left untouched for 36 months can be closed, with the balance refunded.

One detail will look familiar to social casino players. Loto-Québec’s “Argent Web” coupons, bought from retailers, load into your account as play credits that cannot be cashed, with a cap of $500 of Argent Web deposits a week per account. The difference is that on lotoquebec.com you also play with real money that you can withdraw; in a social casino app, nothing you hold is ever withdrawable.

Where social casino apps fit in Quebec

Free-play social casino apps do not appear among the RACJ’s licence types, and we found no Quebec rule written for them. Their coins cannot be cashed out, and they sit outside the system Loto-Québec and the RACJ operate. Our page on why coins have no cash value explains the design.

That cuts both ways. Loto-Québec’s online terms include self-exclusion, play limits and breaks. A social casino app may offer none of those, so any limit is one you set yourself, through your phone or app store.

Where to get help in Quebec

Jeu : aide et référence is Quebec’s free, confidential helpline, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week: 1-800-461-0140, or 514-527-0140 in Montreal. It covers gambling and also video games and internet use, which matters if the problem is free play eating your time rather than your money. The site has an English version.

The responsible gambling page lists helplines for every province. To compare Quebec with its neighbour, see Ontario’s regulated market, or go back to the province-by-province overview.