Loto-Quebec has owned up to the possibility that some suicides in the province can be directly linked to gambling, though the numbers fall short of estimates by the provincial coroner's office.
The agency has only released numbers up to 2002, and will be releasing more recent stats in a later report.
"So far they're admitting to two suicides directly related to gambling in a casino and six attempted suicides and numerous heart attacks as well," said CTV Montreal's Anne Lewis.
In 1999, a man drowned himself in the Rideau Canal after losing $17,000 at a Gatineau casino. In 2001, another gambler shot himself in a montreal parking lot.
The Quebec coroner's office, however, said that between 2000 and 2005 there were about 175 suicides related to gambling, but not directly connected to the casinos.
Gambling critic Sol Boxenbaum said the numbers were likely much higher, and that it was immaterial where the suicides took place.
"It doesn't matter to me whether the person commits suicide in the building or whether they go home and commit suicide in their basement or garage. It's still a life lost," he told CTV Montreal.
The commission was ordered in December by the Quebec Court of Appeal to make public all internal investigations and ambulance reports that could be related to suicides at the province's three casinos.
The result upheld a 2005 Quebec Superior Court decision that stated the lottery commission must respect an Access to Information request put forward by Bill Clennett, an anti-poverty activist.
"The government did everything in its power to ensure this information was not made public," Clennet told reporters Tuesday.
The agency appealed the ruling, saying the release of the information could compromise security and jeopardize the privacy of some patrons.
"We fully worry about the people that have a gaming problem but we're not sure it's in the public interest to release precise facts, dates and figures about these people," Jean-Pierre Roy, a spokesperson for Loto-Quebec said on Tuesday.
The commission said it is doing its best to address the problem, donating $22 million each year to the Quebec Health Department to combat gambling addiction, as well as operating a gambling addiction hotline and offering counselling to those who need it.
With a report by CTV Montreal's Anne Lewis
