The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) will not be appealing a decision by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that upholds province’s competitive commercial online gaming market.
“Although the Council of Chiefs of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke are disappointed in the decision, the silver lining is that the Superior Court of Ontario has recognized that MCK has public-interest standing, having demonstrated sufficient interest and expertise in the operation and regulation of gaming in Ontario,” said an MCK spokesperson in a statement sent to CDC Gaming. “The MCK has opted not to appeal the decision and will instead focus on the pursuit and assertion of its interest over gaming via other avenues.”
What “other avenues” means hasn’t yet been clarified.
Last week, the Ontario Superior Court dismissed an application brought forward by MCK challenging the Ontario government’s move to allow online gaming in the province.
In Ontario, iGaming Ontario (iGO) works with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and the provincial government to regulate the industry, protect consumers in areas like responsible gambling, and provide more digital-gaming choices.
Gaming operators first need to be successfully registered with the AGCO, then execute an operating agreement with iGO before they can go live with their product. The legal market launched in Ontario April 4, with a 20 percent tax rate on licensed operators. iGaming Ontario conducts and manages the industry in the province, as defined by iGaming Ontario.
MCK has been a vocal opponent of C-218, the bill that decriminalized new forms of sports gambling in Canada and became legislation in June 2021. MCK had argued that the changes to the way gaming is managed in Ontario are illegal and unconstitutional.
MCK’s legal challenge asserted that iGaming Ontario was not “conducting or managing” the gaming that takes place on private operators’ sites. Instead, iGO was allowing operators to conduct and manage their business with a portion of revenues going to the provincial government.
The Ontario Superior Court found that iGaming Ontario’s model is consistent with the Criminal Code.
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke has been in the online gaming industry for 25 years, licensing online-gaming operators on behalf of the Mohawks of Kahnawake. They contended that the new way gaming is being managed ignores their expertise in the gaming sector and will result in the loss of significant revenues streams to the community of Kahnawake.
According to last week’s judgment: “[iGaming Ontario] retains a high degree of control over the operators in a wide array of the igaming scheme’s aspects. These are markers of who is in control of the igaming scheme and who is its operating mind. That operating mind is iGO.”
