Keeping an Eye on Canada
The Canadian online casino gambling industry is all of the talk these day in the
international industry…and it’s certainly news in North America where the US
government continues to stall internet gambling plans with the same weak defense
strategies. In Canada though, the online casinos are on the way and several
provincial governments in the country have really vied for legalized forms of
gambling to bring in more revenue to the province. One big concern though as the
country finally begins to add in some rules and regulations into the internet
gambling industry are the equality concerns for the tribes in these various
provinces. Quebec has affirmed that it will keep the status quo of sorts as far
as allowing native tribes equal rights to continue their online gambling
operations, Alberta is treading thinner ground with plans to continue blocking
the native Indians in the province rights to offer forms of gambling.
The online casino gambling industry is watching the situation unfold as the
Alexander First Nation sovereign Indians of Alberta attempt to assert their
rights within the province of Alberta. In the United States the policy is in
place that state governments have to allow tribes and Native bands equal
opportunity to offer land and online casino gambling if it is legalized within
the state. This is a solid policy that has worked fairly well for the US; it
seems as though the Alberta government could do well to take heed. Really
compounding the situation though could very well be the US Department of
Justice’s policies against processing transactions with offshore online casinos.
There are rumors that some of the transaction processing has come out of the
Alberta tribes – speculation exists that the US DoJ has interfered and asked for
the Alberta blocks.
Perhaps some of the reservation in fully expanding online casino gambling in
Alberta stems from the provinces status as producing some of the top research
regarding gambling addictions – and even problem gambling within the internet
specifically. |