Quebec's retailers are upset with a new CD-ROM from Loto Québec. The government-run corporation plans to hand out a free CD-ROM game to people who play its new scratch-and-win lottery. But the retailers say the computer game is geared towards children and could attract them to gambling.

The corner store and grocery store owners say they're surprised Loto-Québec decided to put an animated CD-ROM on the market especially since, earlier this month, the government passed a law forbidding retailers from selling lottery tickets to minors.

If retailers are caught, they could be fined up to 6,000 dollars.

Diane Hétu is the spokesperson for the association that represents the retailers. She says the CD-ROM is bound to make gambling and lottery tickets attractive to children.

"Young people will say, 'Ah wow! A CD-ROM I want to play with it,' because they love this kind of thing," Hétu says.

She says retailers may try to have the game taken off the market if they find children are playing it.

Nathalie Rajotte, a spokesperson for the Loto-Quebec subsidiary Ingenio, says the CD-ROM is aimed at adults, not children. She adds, it's also equipped with security barriers.

"The game is equipped with a parental control device that can restrict access when the adult enters a password in the main menu," she says.

Loto-Québec says lottery corporations in Europe, the United States and other Canadian provinces are also interested in the CD-ROM approach.

Rajotte says the Quebec version will be available in stores next week.