Gambling News - July 2005 Edition

"Report Questions Legality of Mohawk Online Gambling"

Could Canada's gambling policy become as problematic at that of the U.S.?

Could Canada’s gambling policy be as problematic as that of the United States for the Canadian parliament? The United States’ policy towards online gambling is frequently a topic of concern amongst those in the Internet gambling industry, what about Canada’s policy?

There has been an explosion of online gambling operations in different Canadian provinces in spite of the fact that gambling is illegal in the country. The Mohawks in Kahnawake, Quebec, for instance, are allowed to run online gambling operations in spite of a police investigation and even though Internet gambling is officially illegal in the rest of the country. This fact was cited as proof in a report prepared by a trio of researchers for an independent federal agency, the Law Commission of Canada, which advises Parliament on emerging legal issues.

There are serious emerging social and financial repercussions that are problematic and these are due to the proliferation of Internet gambling. Colin Campbell, a B.C. criminologist and one of the authors of the report, said that tens of thousands of Canadians are already addicted to gambling. Now they are turning to fraud and other crimes in order to support their habit. “The result is that we have frauds, embezzlements … bad cheques, credit fraud … and the police are not interested in digging below the surface of the crime to establish the root cause," said Campbell.” Sol Boxenbaum, a Montreal-based consumer advocate, points at the financial losses caused by the Internet gambling sites. “Except for three provinces that are acting in accordance with the law, private companies are involved and billions of dollars are leaving Canada and filtering into the United States and going to the coffers of these national corporations,” said Boxenbaum. Up until now, Canadian law only permits provinces and charities to operate gaming houses legally.

“Why is gambling, which was once considered illegal throughout the country, now a mainstream industry worth thirteen billion dollars a year?” asks Campbell among other questions on the report. “We believe it to be in Canada's national interest that the federal government sits down and re-examines the whole issue of gambling," Campbell concluded.

The Canadian Parliament has already received the report, but recommendations on how Canada should deal with Internet gambling and exactly what approach it should take, are not due out until next year.

“I think control on gambling is already out of hand,” says Boxenbaum. “The government response has been too slow. They should step in now and take control of the situation.”

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