Last week minister of Finance Mr. Bachand announced that the government of Québec has authorized the state lottery operator Loto-Québec to offer online gaming and games of chance in the Canadian province. A decision that surely will have negative impacts over the economy of Kahnawake, a territory located just south of Quebec’s St. Lawrence River where since 1999 it has never directly offered online gambling but hosted online gaming operators from all over the world. Now minister Bachand has authorized Loto-Québec to provide that gambling service, adding another gaming operator to a very competitive market: a decision that bothers the Mohawk Council, which has claimed that the government had chosen to continue its “implicit demonization of Kahnawake” instead of participating as partners with the Mohawk jurisdiction.
The response of Mohawk Council of Kahnawake
After last week’s decision by the government of Québec to authorise Loto-Québec to offer online gambling, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, worried by an initiative that will negatively impact an industry that for 12 years has generated employment and substantial economic development, has expressed its disappointment on its web site. “This environment of self-regulation is a position that Kahnawàke, and most other jurisdictions in the world, have avoided to maintain transparency, fairness and integrity to all players” it’s the position of the council. “Minister Bachand either does not understand how the online gaming industry works; or is simply using the opportunity to take a gratuitous swipe at Kahnawàke for his own political reasons. It is disappointing to note that Québec fails to understand, or deliberately ignores, the opportunities for synergy between Loto-Québec and Kahnawàke. Loto-Québec’s online gambling operation could be hosted from Mohawk Internet Technologies”. According to Mohawk opinion: either the government of Québec reconsiders its position or relations between Kahnawàke and the Province will have inevitable consequences.
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