An Overview of Online Gaming in Canada
Part VII of the Criminal Code of Canada (the “Code”) makes it an offence to operate a commercial gaming enterprise. Although these sections were enacted to deal with traditional gambling in Canada, they have also been applied to most forms of Internet gaming. Except for gaming conducted over the Internet by a provincial government, online gaming continues to be illegal in Canada.
While neither the RCMP nor FBI could arrest the Scheinbergs in the Isle of Man, the Amaya executives are in Quebec.
The Mohawks of Kahnawake
:
In Canada, courts have explicitly rejected First Nations’ claims to an inherent right to conduct gaming activities. Section 35(1) of Canada’s Constitution Act, 1982 recognizes and affirms aboriginal rights. However, only certain activities fall within the ambit of being an “aboriginal right.” In 1996, the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Pamajewon (1996), 138 D.L.R. (4th) 204, held that gaming, or the regulation of gaming, was not an integral part of the cultures of two Ontario First Nations at the time of European contact.
If Amaya can't stand the heat, one option may be to move to Kahnawake, where both the federal and Quebec goverments are too scared to enforce the law.