{"id":170000,"date":"2021-04-08T11:47:02","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T18:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=170000"},"modified":"2021-04-08T13:12:21","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T20:12:21","slug":"first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout\/","title":{"rendered":"First Nations Sue Alberta Government Over \u2018Unauthorized\u2019 Online Gaming Rollout"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Canada, two First Nations are suing the government of Alberta. They are asking the court to shut down the province\u2019s recently launched online gaming operation, Play Alberta.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Play
The Tsuut\u2019ina Gaming CEO and tribal counsellor Brent Dodging Horse addresses a press conference via Zoom on Wednesday. The Tsuut\u2019ina Nation is one of the two first nations suing Alberta. (Image: Times Now Canada<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Tsuut\u2019ina and Stoney Nakoda First Nations want a judicial review that they hope will pull the plug on the \u201cunauthorized and impermissible\u201d platform.<\/p>\n

Play Alberta launched in October 2020, offering slots, casino table games, and instant-win lottery games. It is the only regulated online gaming platform in the province.<\/p>\n

But the tribes say that\u2019s one too many. They argue that the Alberta Gaming & Liquor Commission (ALGC) has overstepped its jurisdiction by becoming an operator, and this is a direct conflict of interest.<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, the ALGC must have either issued a gambling license to itself, which would have violated the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act, or it is illegally operating a casino without a license.<\/p>\n

Broken Agreements<\/strong><\/h2>\n

At a Zoom news conference Wednesday, CEO of The Tsuut\u2019ina Gaming Brent Dodging Horse said the AGLC\u2019s job was \u201cto oversee the gaming, liquor, and cannabis industries in Alberta,\u201d and not to go into business in the sector.<\/p>\n

The province has abandoned any sense of partnership with land-based casinos and rolled with their online gaming platform, acting as competition to all casinos and legislating that they are the only ones that can operate this service in Alberta during COVID,\u201d <\/strong>he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When Play Alberta launched last year, the AGLC established an advisory committee composed of representatives from the province\u2019s gaming industry \u201cto support the relationship with existing venues.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Dodging Horse said the reality was that Play Alberta had broken all agreements and relationships the tribal operators had formed with provincial governments in the past.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 Adds Fuel to Flame<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tensions are running high because casinos across Alberta have been closed for around four months because of COVID, which makes Play Alberta the only game in town.<\/p>\n

\n

In the meantime, charities supported by land-based gaming in the province are losing out, according to Chief Clifford Poucette of Stoney Nakoda\u2019s Wesley band. The Stoney and Tsuut\u2019ina charities currently are not able to meet the needs of its people, Chief Poucette recently said in a news conference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cSeventy-seven per cent of revenue generated for charities in First Nation casinos is spent on housing, infrastructure, education, and health. It is unfortunate that the province has put us in this position of having to take this action before the courts. However, this government has simply refused to enter meaningful discussions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Tsuut\u2019ina operate the Grey Eagle casino on its land southwest of Calgary. The Stoney First Nation owns the Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino to the west of the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Canada, two First Nations are suing the government of Alberta. They are asking the court to shut down the province\u2019s recently launched online gaming operation, Play Alberta. The Tsuut\u2019ina and Stoney Nakoda First Nations want a judicial review that they hope will pull the plug on the \u201cunauthorized and impermissible\u201d platform. Play Alberta launched […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":170001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFirst Nations Sue Alberta Government Over Play Alberta Rollout<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Play Alberta is Alberta\u2019s online gaming platform, but the Tsuut\u2019ina and Stoney Nakoda First Nations argue it is an illegal operation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Nations Sue Alberta Government Over Play Alberta Rollout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Play Alberta is Alberta\u2019s online gaming platform, but the Tsuut\u2019ina and Stoney Nakoda First Nations argue it is an illegal operation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-08T18:47:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-08T20:12:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/BRENT.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1115\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"753\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout\/\",\"name\":\"First Nations Sue Alberta Government Over Play Alberta Rollout\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/BRENT.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-08T18:47:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-08T20:12:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Play Alberta is Alberta\u2019s online gaming platform, but the Tsuut\u2019ina and Stoney Nakoda First Nations argue it is an illegal operation\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/first-nations-sue-alberta-government-over-play-alberta-rollout\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/BRENT.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/BRENT.jpg\",\"width\":1115,\"height\":753,\"caption\":\"Tsuu T\u2019ina Gaming CEO and tribal councilor Brent Dodging Horse addresses a press conference via Zoom on Wednesday. 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