Pressure Mounting Against Online Gaming in Canada

Call it UIGEA North, maybe.  Canada’s National Post reported yesterday that the Canadian federal government is looking into ways of curtailing internet gambling in the country.  Square in the crosshairs is the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal, which hosts approximately 400 online gambling sites and whose Kahnawake Gaming Commission serves as a regulatory and licensing body for the sites.

The government says that the sites are illegal, although no anti-online gambling laws have ever really been enforced.  Now, Canada’s Minister of Justice, Rob Nicholson, wants to see whether or not there may be other means by which online gambling can be curbed.  Many believe the preferred method would be a UIGEA clone – cutting off financial transactions to and from internet gambling sites.

In the meantime, the Mohawks of Kahnawake take exception to this, saying that because they are a sovereign nation, these internet gambling laws to not apply to them.  They also say that section 35 of the Constitution protects gambling as part of their native culture.

Of course, just like in the U.S. the horse racing industry wants the government to stamp out internet gambling, since it competes with the industry’s gambling monopoly.  Horse racing folks also complain that they pay $1 billion in taxes every year, while the online gambling sites don’t have to pay taxes to the Canadian government, as they are based offshore.

And, just like in the U.S., there are those rational minds that feel government legalization and taxation would help benefit the country through increased tax revenue.  Regulation would also help protect customers from shady sites and help protect sites from fraud.