{"id":245623,"date":"2022-11-30T08:57:40","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T14:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=245623"},"modified":"2022-11-30T13:03:08","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T19:03:08","slug":"kahnawake-mohawks-sue-ontario-over-unconstitutional-igaming-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kahnawake-mohawks-sue-ontario-over-unconstitutional-igaming-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Kahnawake Mohawks Sue Ontario Over \u2018Unconstitutional\u2019 iGaming Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake<\/a> (MCK) is suing the Ontario government in a bid to challenge the legality and constitutionality of its new online gaming market.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Kahnawake\"
Rats\u00e9nhaienhs Michael Delisle, Jr says Ontario\u2019s online gaming market will cause \u201cirreparable harm to Kahnawake\u2019s own legitimate and well-established gaming industry.\u201d (Image: Radio Canada<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Mohawks of Kahnawake were early adopters of online gaming, and have licensed it from sovereign Mohawk tribal territory, just south of Montreal, for 25 years via the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC). They argue it’s their aboriginal right to do so, and the legality of their operations has never been challenged by Canada or any other jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ontario became the first Canadian province to license and regulate online gaming in April. That\u2019s when it broke with the familiar province-run monopoly model and opened up the market to private operators.<\/p>\n

Economic Damage<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In doing so, it shut out Kahnawake-licensed sites, including Mohawk Online, a gaming operator wholly owned by the MCK. That\u2019s unless they apply for licensing from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, which demands a 20% cut of their profits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MCK has a longstanding interest in the facilitating, conducting, and regulation of gaming activities on behalf of the Mohawks of Kahnawake, which is grounded in a long history of gaming and wagering (prior to European contact),\u201d said the MCK in a statement.<\/p>\n

Since 1996, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission has been licensing both land-based and online gaming operators and providing players with access to safe, well-regulated and responsible gaming options. Ontario\u2019s iGaming regime threatens to undermine this important contributor to our economy,\u201d<\/strong> added the MCK.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Specifically, the MCK is taking issue with Ontario\u2019s interpretation of the phrase \u201cconduct and manage.\u201d This is the language used in Canada\u2019s Criminal Code that sets out who can oversee, carry out, or license gaming activities. In 1985, Canada\u2019s federal government devolved powers to regulate gambling to individual provinces.<\/p>\n

\u2018Tenuous Legal Foundation\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The MCK argues that the KGC correctly \u201cconducts and manages\u201d online gaming via its data center and hosting facilities on its sovereign land. It claims Ontario leaves the private operators to conduct and manage their own gaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel that the legal basis for Ontario\u2019s iGaming scheme needs to be challenged in the Courts and is being used to cause irreparable harm to Kahnawake\u2019s own legitimate and well-established gaming industry,\u201d said Rats\u00e9nhaienhs (elected Council Chief) Michael Delisle, Jr.<\/p>\n

The plain facts are that Ontario has implemented an iGaming scheme, which is based on a very tenuous legal foundation, that is causing a significant loss of revenues for our community,\u201d<\/strong> said Rats\u00e9nhaienhs (elected Council Chief) Michael Delisle, Jr.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cUntil Ontario sought to impose its ill-designed reinterpretation of \u2018conduct and manage\u2019 on operators and service providers, Kahnawake was able to successfully operate across Canada in a regulated manner,” Delisle added. \u201cThe Ontario iGaming framework will have devastating effects on a source of income that has supplemented programs and services in our community for the last two decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case will be filed shortly in the Ontario Superior Court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) is suing the Ontario government in a bid to challenge the legality and constitutionality of its new online gaming market. The Mohawks of Kahnawake were early adopters of online gaming, and have licensed it from sovereign Mohawk tribal territory, just south of Montreal, for 25 years via the Kahnawake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":245624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81887,62,60,18456],"tags":[83938,37],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKahnawake Mohawks Sue Ontario Over \u2018Unconstitutional\u2019 iGaming Market<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake says iGaming Ontario does not \u2018conduct and manage\u2019 online gaming, but leaves it to operators.\" \/>\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\/kahnawake-mohawks-sue-ontario-over-unconstitutional-igaming-market\/\" \/>\n<meta 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