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Ontario iGaming Laws Under Constitutional Challenge

Posted on December 9, 2022 | 12:55 pm
kahnawake-council-launches-legal-challenge-against-ontario-igaming-laws

The legislative framework that allows legal online gambling in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, is under threat as the Mohawk Council of Kahnawàke has launched a constitutional challenge against it.

iGaming Ontario, the government agency that is in charge of regulating online gambling in the province, and the attorney general of Ontario will have to defend the constitutionality of the legislation in court.

The Mohawk Council runs its own gambling licensing regime and insists that the Ontario licensing does not meet the requirements for gambling stipulated in the Canadian constitution.

The Council has filed a motion to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in which it challenges the current legislative framework that allows multiple private online casino operators to enter the Ontario market once they receive a license from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.

Under the Canadian constitution, betting and gambling are legal in the country as long as the activities are “conducted and managed” by a provincial government. In all provinces except Ontario the government runs a monopoly, but this year Ontario launched a licensed regime and more than 30 different operators have entered the market since.

It is also true that the constitution does not provide a specific definition of “conducting and managing”, but the Mohawk Council of Kahnawàke believes that it means the province should conduct or manage online gambling directly.

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Reduced Revenue For The Tribe

The main problem, as the Mohawk Council pointed out, is that the licensed system in Ontario leads to reduced revenue for the Kahnawàke tribe. “The Mohawk Council of Kahnawàke has facilitated, conducted, and safely regulated gaming activities on behalf of the Mohawks of Kahnawàke for decades,” the Council underlined in a statement, in which it described the financial losses for the community as “significant.”

In October 2022, iGaming Ontario started to crack down on operators that were active in the province without holding a license from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Among those operators there were several that had licenses from the Kahnawàke Gaming Commission.

“Until these actions were taken, we were operating legally, safely and successfully across Canada. To be shut out of Ontario – by far the largest province in Canada – will have devastating effects on a source of income that has supplemented programmes and services in our community for the last two decades,” said Mike Delisle Jr, the chief of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawàke.

SOURCE:

“Kahnawàke council launches legal challenge against Ontario igaming laws“. igamingbusiness.com, November 28, 2022.

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