SOURCE: CBC News

Casinos in Quebec hope the province's plan to legalize Texas hold 'em poker will bring in a full house.

"It's something that we've been waiting for for some time," said Catherine Schellenberg, spokeswoman for the Lac Leamy Casino in Gatineau, after the new law was published in Wednesday's official Quebec Gazette. "This is great news."

Schellenberg said Quebec's ban on Texas hold 'em in casinos is one of the reasons why the Lac Leamy Casino saw its profits plunge $8 million last year.

The new law will put Quebec casinos on a level playing field with some of the largest casinos in Ontario, she added, and will also allow them to compete with a growing number of illegal gambling houses — two places where customers can already play the popular poker variant.

Right now, Quebec casinos can only offer poker variants that are played against the house, such as three-card and Caribbean poker. In Texas hold 'em, players also face each other.

Loto-Quebec officials said casinos will likely start offering Texas hold 'em in the fall, when the new law comes into effect.

"The Texas hold 'em poker is usually popular among young adults," said Loto-Quebec spokesman Jean-Pierre Roy, "so we expect it to bring customers that may not otherwise go to casinos."

That's not necessarily a good thing, said Pierre Gagnon, spokesman for a Gatineau centre that offers treatment to problem gamblers.

Gagnon, who works at the Jellinek Centre, said he is concerned that attracting more people to casinos will increase the risk that those people will develop gambling problems.