Loto-Quebec testing pilot project to prompt for sales at grocery store self checkouts

Loto-Quebec is testing a pilot project asking customers at grocery store self-checkouts if they want to buy a lottery ticket.

You may soon have the option to buy a lottery ticket at the self-checkout machine at the grocery store.

Loto-Quebec will be testing a pilot project this summer.

“The idea is to offer a seamless experience for purchasing certain draw-based lotteries, such as Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49,” said Renaud Dugas, Loto-Quebec spokesperson, in a statement to CTV News.

Customers can already buy lottery tickets in grocery stores. The pilot project will allow them to purchase them at the self-checkout during the payment process, and will print the ticket on receipt paper.

$3 billion in revenue

It comes on the heels of a record-breaking year for the crown corporation. For the first time, total revenues exceeded $3 billion.

Loto-Quebec will pay a $1.5 billion dividend to the provincial government. $1.9 billion was paid out to lottery winners, another single-year record.

“This excellent performance shows the strength of our organization and our ability to maintain our growth trajectory, while generating significant spin-offs for Québec,” said Jean-François Bergeron, Loto-Quebec CEO, in a press release announcing the company’s earnings.

Addiction concerns

The project has addiction care workers sounding the alarm.

“If you count sports gambling, it’s skyrocketing,” said Benyamin Bresinger, director of Chabad Lifeline Addiction Care Centre. “I think there is something like a 30 or 35 per cent increase just in the last year.”

Adding the option to easily buy lottery tickets at the self-checkout counter could present a problem for people who are struggling with gambling addiction, he said, especially if it includes a prompt to buy.

“On one hand, it’s a brilliant marketing campaign. On the other hand, it’s so exploitive,” Bresinger said. “There’s going to be a percentage of the population that that’s like asking if you want crack cocaine or not.

“We see here real life consequences of people who started out buying a lotto ticket,” he added. “But we’re missing the point if we think that the problem is the gambling and the accessibility to gambling, that’s not the problem. The problem is what’s going on inside of people.”

Loto-Quebec declined a request for an interview but, in its revenue announcement, said it spent $36 million in 2025 on direct contributions to problem gambling prevention.