INDEPTH: GAMBLING
Kahnawake - Gambling on internet casinos
CBC News Online | November 18, 2003
The Kahnawake Mohawk Reserve is just across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal. The reserve is home to the only real-money online gambling in North America.
Despite a referendum in 1994 that decided against opening casinos on the reserve, the reserve council set up the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in 1996 to regulate gambling activity on the reserve. The three-person commission began considering the possibilities of online casinos.
Because of rules requiring that Mohawks own all businesses on-reserve, the commission set up Mohawk Internet Technologies to operate the online casino business. MIT operates a server farm on the reserve, and offers space on the servers to online casino operators. MIT collects a monthly fee from the casino operators.
The KGC is responsible for licensing the operators. Its rules require a full investigation of any new casino operator, or a more cursory investigation of an established operator. The KGC has regulations that require online casino operators to operate openly, and follow certain guidelines pertaining to issues such as audits, payouts and access by underage users.
As of November 2003, the Sureté du Quebec says it is investigating the online casino business at the reserve. According to news reports, that investigation has been going on for at least two years.
Spokespeople for Loto Quebec and Quebec's alcohol, racing and gaming board have been cited as saying they view the casino operation as illegal. Attorneys general in Canada and Quebec have also said it is illegal. But no charges have been laid, and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission's lawyer, Murray Marshall, says no one has contacted the commission about an investigation. He says the commission and the casinos are perfectly legal. "It's the exercise of an aboriginal right that's recognized and protected in the Canadian constitution," he says.
The casino also faces some opposition from within the reserve. Activist Sonny Joe Cross says the business hasn't brought that many jobs, and some employees are from off-reserve. Another referendum on setting up a bricks-and-mortar casino at the reserve was again defeated in October 2003. There has not been a referendum about online casinos at the reserve.
Cross says many people on the reserve don't support the online business, just as they didn't support the proposal for an on-site casino.
But Marshall, says the online casinos have brought more than 200 jobs to the community. He estimates that at least half of the jobs are filled by people from the reserve. Marshall says the commission has not had any complaints from the community about the online casino business.
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