Singer Lady Gaga poses during a photocall before a news conference promoting her new album "Born This Way" in Mexico City May 6, 2011. The singer is lending her Poker Face anthem to Loto-Quebec's new card game. REUTERS/Henry Romero
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MONTREAL -
Lady Gaga is lending her Poker Face anthem to Loto-Quebec's new card game, but critics say young problem gamblers will be the big losers.
The Crown corporation has paid $300,000 for the rights to the American pop star's 2008 smash hit. It's the highest royalty fee in Loto-Quebec's 41-year history.
The dance song is featured in the gambling agency's Lotto Poker television ad that debuted Tuesday.
"We are looking for young customers in their 20s and 30s," says Loto-Quebec spokesman Jean-Pierre Roy. "Lady Gaga is more popular with this clientele."
The Gaga deal isn't sitting well with observers such as gambling critic Sol Boxenbaum, who tells QMI Agency that Loto-Quebec has been trying to reel in young gamblers for years.
"It's really, really unfair to go after that young market," said Boxenbaum, who played a key role in pushing Quebec to ban the sale of lottery tickets to minors in the 1990s.
He said that even though Gaga's underage fans aren't allowed to play Lotto Poker, young adults are just as vulnerable.
"These kids that get into trouble with gambling at age 18, they are the ones ... that when they get to be 30, 35, and have responsibilities, find themselves being problem gamblers."
Lady Gaga does not appear in the Loto-Quebec ad, but her Poker Face song plays in the background.
Loto-Quebec says it quickly recovered its $300,000 royalty fee. Lotto Poker earned $440,000 in its first two days of operation.
"It was $2.4 million the first week," said Roy.
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