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 Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 3:41 pm Post subject: Canadian Gaming Laws |
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The grey zone:
Canadian Gaming Law
See also Kahnawake - Is it legal?
Overview:
The best summary of Canadian gaming law we've found is contained in the Apr. 21/04 minutes of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in a presentation by Hal Pruden, counsel with the federal Dept. of Justice, here during a discussion concerning Bill S-6, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (lottery schemes), (now Bill S-11, which received Third Reading May 17/05), a bill seeking to remove video lottery terminals (VLTs) from bars:
| Quote: | Mr. Hal Pruden, Counsel, Department of Justice: The general scheme of the gambling provisions in the Criminal Code Part 7 is to prohibit all forms of gambling except those that are specifically permitted by the code. Section 204 permits private bets between individuals who are not engaged in the business of betting. It also permits pari-mutuel betting on horse races, where the federal Minister of Agriculture regulates the betting.
Section 207 permits a broad range of "lottery schemes," defined to include various forms of lotteries, gaming and pool betting that are conducted by a province or territory, including those operated on or through a video device, slot machine, computer or dice game. Section 207 also permits a smaller range of lottery or gaming schemes that are licensed by a province or territory, for example, to charities, but not those that are conducted on a video device, slot machine, computer or dice game. (emphasis ours) Section 207.1 permits, under certain conditions, a broad range of lottery or gaming schemes operated on cruise ships that are on an international voyage.
Prior to 1969, legal gambling in Canada was primarily limited to pari-mutuel betting on horse races and some low- stakes charity gambling. A joint parliamentary committee had considered the possibility of expanding legalized gambling in the 1950s. The legalization of a state lottery in New Hampshire in 1964 reawakened interest in lotteries throughout North America.
That led to the 1969 Criminal Code amendments in Canada that permitted lottery schemes being conducted by the federal government or provincial/territorial governments and those being licensed by provincial/territorial governments. There has never been Criminal Code permission for a lottery scheme that is licensed by the federal government. Clearly, Parliament chose to expand permitted gambling on the basis that the proceeds would benefit "public good causes," including governments, rather than private, commercial interests. (emphasis ours)
In 1979, a federal-provincial-territorial agreement on gambling was signed, whereby Canada agreed not to conduct lottery schemes, and in return it would receive what now amounts to some $50 million annually. In 1983, Parliament amended the Criminal Code to permit pool betting operations conducted by the federal government.
Litigation ensued, with some provinces complaining that the federal government was really conducting a lottery scheme and with the federal government complaining that Quebec was operating a pool betting operation. The Canadian and provincial/territorial governments resolved all outstanding litigation by signing a 1985 agreement on gaming. Under the agreement, the federal government agreed to place legislation before Parliament that would remove the authority for federal lottery schemes and pool betting operations and explicitly permit the province and territories to conduct lotteries, pool betting and other games of chance.
The 1985 amendment also clarified that provinces could conduct lottery schemes or other gaming activities operated on or through a video device, slot machine or computer, but they could not license others to do so. Provinces and territories agreed to give the federal government $100 million for the 1988 Calgary Olympics and to continue the annual payments under the 1979 agreement. A 1999 amendment to the Criminal Code permitted lotteries or gaming schemes that are operated by a province or territory through a dice game.
The lottery scheme provisions in section 207 express the current federal government policy. Provincial and territorial governments are free to make local decisions regarding the kinds of lottery or gaming schemes that they may conduct or license within the limits set by the Criminal Code. (emphasis ours)
Some provinces choose to operate casinos and others do not. Provinces and territories determine the types of games or lotteries that can be operated in each province. To this point, only the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have decided not to offer any slot machine gambling, which includes VLTs. British Columbia, Ontario and Yukon have chosen not to offer any VLT gambling in bars, but do offer slot machine gaming in casinos.
Some provinces, including Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick, have held provincial or municipal referenda relating to the removal of VLTs from bars. In provincial referenda, no province has chosen to remove slot machines from all bars. However, in provinces with municipal referenda, a few municipalities have chosen to have VLTs removed from bars. Some provinces have chosen to cap the number of VLTs that will be placed within the province, as is the case with Quebec. Clearly, the issue of problem gambling as balanced against individual choice and provincial revenues has arisen in the context of provincial or municipal referenda relating to machine gambling. |
See the excellent 40-page presentation, The Legality of Internet Gaming in Canada of March, 2005 by Michael Lipton, Q.C. and Kevin Weber of the Toronto firm, Elkind, Lipton & Jacobs, which includes a section on Antigua's crucial victory against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization (WTO). We also liked Jurisdiction in Cyberspace by C. Ian Kyer and Is Internet Gaming Legal in Canada? A Look at Starnet by C. Ian Kyer and Danielle Hough, both of Fasken Martineau. Here are a few key paragraphs from the second article at p. 12, Part VI: Conclusion: How to Avoid Criminal Liability:
| Quote: | To state it simply, the safest approach is to reduce or eliminate all connections with Canada (emphasis ours). All download, database and gaming servers should be located in a jurisdiction where it is lawful. If all connections cannot be severed with Canada, then an online gaming operation should bar all Canadians from access to the gaming activity. If no Canadians can gamble or bet, there is likely no offence under the Code. There would be no control of illicit funds and no unlawful agreements to purchase or sell gaming privilege in support of an illegal gambling operation in Canada. The Code serves to protect Canadians and without any harm to them, there would not likely be any prosecution.
Care should also be taken as to where management resides and decisions are made. If management resides in Canada and decisions are made here, it may be argued that the controlling mind of the operation is in Canada.
The exemption in s. 207 and the SCI restructuring suggest that certain aspects of such an operation, such as software development and perhaps advertising, can remain in Canada with some degree of legitimacy. A company, which merely develops the software for lawful offshore online gaming operations, is not likely in violation of the Code.
An advertising group or the branch of the parent company that develops information intended to promote lawful offshore online gaming is also not likely in violation of the Code, especially if they merely create this information for the gaming operation. In this situation, an arms length agreement with the gaming operation similar to the one for the software developer is advisable. If, however, they distribute such information as well, they must ensure that they do not distribute it directly into Canada. To be completely sure that they are not in violation of the Code, such a group should ensure they do not distribute this information into other jurisdictions that consider the online gaming operation to be unlawful. This concern will be heightened if the countries in question are ones with which Canada has close relations, such as the U.S. (Footnotes omitted) |
About Bill S-6:
Coincidentally, this bill was sponsored by Sen. Jean Lapointe, a self-described raconteur and formerly heavy gambler appointed by Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien in 2001. He told the committee Feb. 18/04:
| Quote: | Casinos, I am not aiming at casinos, they exist. You have people that go to casinos and have fun, and unfortunately many of them become addicts to the casinos. However, to me, and with my experience, in case you do not know, I am a gambler. I used to be a heavy gambler but for 15 years or so I am a very simple littler gambler having fun playing games but not risking my wife's or my children's situations whatsoever...
Get them out of the street, put them into casinos or racetracks where people go to gamble in any case. Let us not develop new gamblers among our young people. These machines are like crack for the young. We have heard testimonies along these lines. Your question is very relevant. We are not seeking prohibition, we simply want to put these machines in places to reduce the harm they cause in our society. |
Follow the bill's progress along with us. Here are a few key points again from the discussion of Feb. 18/04 noted above:
| Quote: | Senator Baker: ...In the investigations, did you find that certain provinces allowed more of these machines in grocery stores, corner stores and pool halls, whereas other provinces did not allow it to that extent? Which provinces have been, shall we say, responsible provinces, if you would go that far, and which provinces have been irresponsible in the administration of this business?
[Translation]
Mr. Charron (Pascal Charron, Senate Political Advisor): I would say that, generally speaking, our research shows that this has become a cash cow that they can no longer do without. The provincial governments have surpluses every year. The sticking point is their promise to provide a certain percentage of this revenue to help compulsive gamblers. The figure for Quebec is 1 or 2 per cent. I do not have the figures for the other provinces. That is the problem. There is a promise to provide assistance for compulsive gamblers, because their numbers are increasing every year. The number of compulsive gamblers in the provinces is increasing, as are gambling-related problems and suicides (emphasis added). |
Interpretive aids:
The federal-provincial relationship in Canada and its impact on legislative initiatives is crisply set out at p. 11 of this 19-page report by DOJ senior general counsel Henry Molot:
| Quote: | | ...And yet, even the Criminal Code contains provisions that cannot be interpreted and applied without reference to provincial law. For example, although s. 202(1)(b) makes it an offence to buy, sell, rent, lease, hire...any device or apparatus for gambling or betting purposes, one must turn to provincial law to determine if there has been a lawful transaction to buy, sell, rent, lease, hire...any device or apparatus. |
Search the term 'gambling' in this telemarketing fraud report last updated April 24/03 and again in Borders Conference - Rethinking the Line: The Canada-U.S. Border of November, 2001.
Recent changes in Canada's gambling legislation:
See also changes to the Criminal Code regarding gaming reproduced here:
| Quote: | In force March 15, 1999:
GAMING
Cruise ship casinos [Clause 7, amending s.207, enacting s.207.1]
All ships are subject to the Criminal Code while they are in Canadian waters and Canadian-registered ships are subject to it even when sailing in foreign or international waters. This has discouraged some cruise ships with casinos on board from visiting Canada. The amendment creates new exemptions from gambling offences to allow certain operations on international cruise ships while they are sailing in Canadian waters. A definition of "international cruise ship" has been added to the Criminal Code so that smaller ships cannot be set up as off-shore casinos. Gambling will not be permitted within five nautical miles of ports or when the ship is in port.
The changes are intended to allow Canadian ports to compete more effectively for cruise-ship business, while not increasing existing levels of gambling or allowing onboard gambling to compete with existing provincial operations.
Provincial dice games [Clause 6, amending s.207]
The second amendment allows the provinces to "conduct and manage" dice games in addition to other forms of gambling which they already operate. This will allow provincial gambling operations which compete with American casinos offering dice games along the Canada-United States border. The exemption is limited to operations conducted and managed by the provinces themselves to ensure that adequate security precautions and surveillance measures are taken to assure the integrity of the games. |
Seizing the proceeds of crime made easier:
(More on seizure/forfeiture and international agreements here).
See Highlights of the Organized Crime Bill last updated Apr. 24/03 from which the following is excerpted:
| Quote: | Simplifying the definition of "criminal organization"
The proposed new definition of "criminal organization" responds to concerns expressed by police and prosecutors that the current definition is too complex and too narrow in scope. As well as simplifying the definition of criminal organization, the amended provision will give police and prosecutors the flexibility they need to go after more criminal organizations and those who choose to get involved in their activities. The amended definition would:
- reduce the number of people required to constitute a criminal organization from five to three. This brings Canadian legislation into line with legislation used in other countries;
- no longer require prosecutors to show that members of the criminal organization were involved in committing a series of crimes for the criminal organization in the last five years. Instead, prosecutors will be able to focus on the evidence relevant to the crimes that are on trial; and
- broaden the scope of the offences which define a criminal organization (currently limited to indictable offences punishable by five or more years) to all serious crimes, including "signature" crimes such as prostitution and gambling.
Seizure, freezing and confiscation of the proceeds of crime
Current laws allow for the seizure, freezing and confiscation of proceeds of about 40 types of crimes defined as "enterprise crimes", for example, firearms trafficking, stock market fraud and arson. The amendments propose to expand the proceeds of crime provisions so that they apply to most indictable offences.
Another set of amendments would allow Canadian authorities to enforce foreign criminal confiscation orders involving proceeds of crime. Such an approach is proposed in international agreements such as the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, the Council of Europe's Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of Proceeds of Crime and the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering. Innocent third party interests would be protected.
Currently, the law provides for the forfeiture of property only if it was especially built or modified in order to carry out the crime. Under the proposed amendments, forfeiture of offence-related property would, for the first time, apply to all property (e.g., houses or other real estate, vehicles or equipment) that was used in committing the crime. To ensure that the provisions are applied fairly, the law requires that a test be applied so that the punishment of forfeiture would not be disproportionate to the seriousness of the crime. |
Further Reading:
Texts:
Here is Lexpert Directory's list of top computer law publications:
| Quote: | | The leading Canadian work is B.B. Sookman, Computer Law: Acquiring and Protecting Information Technology (Carswell: a loose leaf service updated regularly). Other important works in this practice area are: Duncan Cornell Card, Information Technology Transactions: Business, Management and Legal Strategies (Thomson Carswell, 2002); Alan M. Gahtan, The Year 2000 Computer Crisis Legal Guide and Internet Law: A Practical Guide for Legal and Business Professionals (both Carswell, 1998); C. Ian Kyer and M.J. Fecenko, Computer-Related Agreements: A Practical Guide (2nd ed.) (Butterworths, 1997); M.J. Fecenko and Anita M. Huntley, E:Commerce Law: Corporate-Commercial Practice, (Butterworths, 2003) and George S. Takach, Computer Law (Irwin Law, 1998), Contracting for Computers (3rd ed.) (Lexpert® Press, 1998) and The Software Business (2nd ed.) (McGraw-Hill, 1997). |
Note: We borrowed a copy of the Kyer, Fecenko book from our local law library Jan. 28/04 and find it practical, straight-forward and mercifully short though somewhat dated. We look forward to a new edition if one is planned.
Articles:
See Internet Gaming in Canada dated Sept. 17/03 by Michael D. Lipton, Q.C. and related publications at Elkind, Lipton and Jacobs, globetechnology.com's MaxLotto taking aim at government-run lotteries of Feb. 26/01 by Susanne Craig, included on the 2004 reading list for the Internet and Information Technology class at the University of Victoria, and CBC's excellent Internet gambling materials below:
| Quote: | Online Gambling
CBC News Online November 17, 2003
Place your bets now. The odds are uncertain, the game might be illegal, but the prize is well worth it: $5 billion U.S. This is the game facing companies and consumers deciding whether to deal themselves in to online gambling.
Many people have played blackjack, poker, baccarat, roulette during a night out at the casino or at a charity event. But those aren't the only places you can lose money -- people around the world are playing and betting from the comfort of their own homes, at internet casinos and sports betting sites. You can log on and, credit card in hand, visit sites around the world to bet on anything from horse racing to cards to football. Some of the sites go to great lengths to try to recreate the feel of a casino. They design their sites with the sights and sounds of an actual casino. Many also provide incentives, live dealers (often scantily clad women), and cameras.
The U.S. General Accounting Office estimates there are at least 1,800 online casino sites worldwide. Most of the sites are based in the Caribbean. The GAO predicts worldwide revenue from those sites will reach $5 billion in 2003. The GAO says half of that will come from U.S. consumers. Online casinos are illegal in the U.S.
Canadians spent $11.3 billion on legalized gambling in 2001. Revenue from government-run lotteries, video lottery terminals and casinos was more than four times higher than a decade earlier. But there are few statistics on how much was spent on online gambling, since the industry is in a legal grey zone in Canada. The most recent Canadian statistics suggest less than one per cent of the population is doing any online gambling. But a survey from late 2001 in Ontario suggested as many as one in 20 Ontarians had at least tried gambling online. Part of the problem is trying to collect statistics quickly enough to reflect the growth of the internet. Researchers say while the numbers are still low, those that are gambling may be more hard-core gamblers than most. Preliminary research done at Harvard suggests that online gamblers are more likely to be problem gamblers.
Is it legal?
Online gambling is the wild west of the gaming world. Unlike provincial or state lotteries, and government-regulated casinos, it is largely unregulated, and in fact illegal in many countries. In Canada, federal criminal law appears to outlaw setting up a site for online gaming. Ironically, Canadian companies, particularly Cryptologic, are the major suppliers of internet gaming software in the world.
But gaming itself is the purview of the provinces. So far, none of the provinces has ventured into the online gambling world. The only exception currently is the Khanawake reserve in Quebec, which provides a portal and server space for many international online casinos. Loto Quebec says this may be illegal. The Quebec Police say they are investigating, but after two years of investigation, no charges have been laid.
But the average Canadian consumer may not be breaking the law when they log on. Toronto lawyer Zak Muscovitch says, "What is illegal is to operate a common betting house. It's the proprietor of the casino that is the person breaking the law. There is no actual law that would prevent a consumer from using the site." But there is a law that makes it illegal to be found in a "common betting house," so it may be that gambling online would apply. (emphasis added)
Ever since the internet first came into being, people have found ways to make money from it. The difficulty of regulating what goes on on the web is at once its major asset and its major flaw. In the U.S., even casino operators operating on foreign soil have been charged and pleaded guilty under the Wire Act.
Some countries have decided to legalize and control online gambling. Holland has, but the sites are written in Dutch, partly to reduce access from people outside the country. Consumers wishing to gamble online must register for a unique code that can then be monitored. If a player is determined to be gambling excessively, they may have counselling recommended, or have their access cut off. Online gambling used to be legal in Australia, but has since been outlawed, except for sports betting and lotteries. Great Britain plans to license online gaming operators who locate their servers in Britain. Operators will be investigated, and software will be tested. The system should be in place by 2005.
In Canada, running an online gambling service may be illegal, but betting does not appear to be. The RCMP has investigated and raided Canadian companies suspected of running online service, but international companies are difficult to track, and very difficult to hold to account. It is almost impossible to know who is logging on to these sites.
In the U.S., several credit card companies, including VISA, American Express and Citibank, and the internet payment system PayPal have said they will cut off access to their services by online casinos.
The other issue is who is going online. Without guards at the door, the casinos don't know if compulsive gamblers, or children, are visiting their sites. The only thing stopping minors, usually, is a lack of access to a credit card. Professor Jeffrey Derevensky at the International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High Risk Behaviours at McGill University says they don't always need a card to get hooked. "What we're concerned about though are the kids who are gambling on the internet sites for fun. If you go on these sites, they often have a practice side, or a free trial side, where you're not really gambling for money. It is easy for kids to log on, even if they can't play for money. In one study, nine per cent of the kids surveyed said they had gone on the internet casino sites to play for fun." Deverensky says playing for fun may get the kids hooked on gambling. He says there is no way to know what strategies are used on the 'fun' sites that could encourage people to gamble for real.
In 1997 federal MP David Mills submitted a private member's bill (scroll to p. 47 of Fast Facts on Gambling by the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba) to make online gambling legal, and regulated by the federal government. His argument was that the underground gaming economy should be regulated, in the same way that provincial lotteries are. Bringing it aboveground would mean government could take a cut. Some of that money could be redirected to programs to help problem gamblers. His bill went nowhere. He says without the support of Prime Minister Jean Chretien, the bill was doomed.
The pros and cons
Ironically, supporters and detractors of legalized online casinos often use the same argument: protection of consumers. Keith Furlong of the Interactive Gaming Council argues that legalizing online gambling would allow for regulation. "[Legal online casinos] would provide a better alternative, and a safer route for consumers," he says.
But Jamie Wiebe of the Responsible Gambling Council of Ontario worries that online casinos aren't the same as land-based ones. "It seems internet gambling is a different sort of activity, in that it's and isolated activity," says Wiebe. That may lead to, or contribute to, gambling addictions.
Furlong argues that with regulated gambling, money can be put toward programs for problem gamblers. That's what happens with the money the provinces make now. But gambling critic Sol Boxenbaum says that money is being collected off the backs of the victims. "They're creating the problem, and then they're giving two per cent of the revenue to fight the problem that wouldn't be there, if they hadn't created it in the first place." Boxenbaum says its time to sit back and take a look at the changes in the gambling industry in Canada, particularly since the introduction of casinos. "Right now, it's just a free-for-all," he says, "We have to stop building and start analyzing what's happened." |
Popular Texts:
Chasing Lightning
Gambling in Canada
Paperback
By V. Perrier Mandal and C. Vander Doelen
An excellent summary of the
history of Canadian gaming
policy. A well researched yet
short read.
| Quote: | Farmers are the original gamblers. All business people gamble in a myriad of ways, from their produce to stock issues. During the 1990s the world's stock markets became the biggest casino of all time. All workers gamble -- against their will in the form of pension funds that are bet on their behalf in the money and stock markets, and consciously with home-buying decisions, RSPs, and other savings. Students gamble on a career choice. Lovers gamble on the affections of another. Long-married couples on an unfamiliar road might lay a casual bet on whether or not the route chosen is the correct one. And by the end of our days, the believers and non-believers alike know they have spent a lifetime gambling with their souls.
In short, to gamble is human. It is eight thousand years too late to debate whether or not government should "allow" it. The questions are: who should control and limit the commercial versions of gambling sold to the public; who should reap the profits; and how much effort should society expend to minimize the inevitable damage to the few who choose to become its victims? (--- p. 192) |
Gambling in Canada:
Golden Goose or Trojan Horse?
Hardcover
Edited by Colin S. Campbell and John Lowman
This one came up in our DOJ search.
(see below). A collection of papers on gaming
law, policy, trends and stats both in Canada
and abroad. Included in most
bibliographies of texts on the subject throughout
the world. Hard to find, though.
Our e-mail regarding the Golden Goose:
| Quote: | From: "Rhys Stevens" <rhys>
To: <Legal>
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 8:51 AM
Subject: Gambling in Canada: Golden Goose or Trojan Horse?
Hi,
I've been reading the various Canadian topics in your forums pages and have found them to be very useful. I noticed that you'd made reference o a book that has been published on the topic. I wanted to let you know that I've been working to make these types of items freely available online through the University of Calgary's DSpace web site (which I've been involved with through the Alberta Gaming Research Institute). BTW, we've received written permission from all authors whose works are included.
The Alberta Gaming Research Institute's DSpace community:
URL: https://dspace.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/79
Gambling in Canada: Golden Goose or Trojan Horse?
URL: https://dspace.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/193
-- click on 'View/Open' link to access the entire document online...
WARNING: This is a large file and only recommended for those with high-speed Internet.
There's lots of other material in the collection...
Sincerely,
Rhys Stevens, Alberta Gaming Research Institute Librarian
rhys.stevens@uleth.ca |
...Librarians, the true civil libertarians among us. Many, many thanks for these excellent new links. We'll visit them soon and report our findings. Please check back for updates.
Link to this entry
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legal
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| Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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Nick the Shark
Our search at DOJ Canada:
| Quote: | 37 hits Jan. 14/05.
Happily for us, the Justice website finally underwent a badly needed purge. Until recently, to get 37 focused hits using a term as general as 'gambling' would have been laughable. Cups up, Justice. Hidden among the bounty like a pearl was this fascinating undercover expose that made for some unexpected and entertaining reading: A Typology of Profit-Driven Crimes by McGill University economics professor R. Tom Naylor, (who also authored Economic Crime and Organized Crime: Challenges for Criminal Justice in 2000), with Deane Taylor and Roksana Hahramitah in October, 2002. Here's a sample from Appendix III: |
| Quote: | The Loan-sharking Scene in Montreal Today
Although there may be big time sharks associated in some way with gangs and groups, it seems that most in Montreal today are strictly neighborhood operators with never more than $1,000 on the street. Most taverns have their sharks, who could be the manager. But the most common place to negotiate a quick loan seems to be a depanneur -whose owners are rarely particularly scary. Most sell food, cigarettes (sometimes from under the counter, tax-free), beer, and cheap wine on credit, so it's a natural extension for them to advance cash to clients they know and trust. Interest rates seem to be much higher than for more orthodox sharks, those detached from any link to retail sales. The money goes mainly to finance drinking, drugs, and gambling - if it went to food, the normal process of retail credit would be used instead. It seems that some small-scale loan sharks will lend to women more easily than - they have less trouble getting welfare payments to amortize the loan, and, in extremis, they can offer sex in payment, directly or indirectly. Many of these characteristics probably show up in pawn-shop-based operations too.
Even when sharks are big time and unaffiliated with any retail institution, there is no need for them to have mob links. Three years ago a student of mine approached a prominent loan shark (who claimed he had so much money on the street, he lost track of it - so the student designed a spreadsheet that would solve the problem, fortunately never offering it to the shark). The pretext was that the student needed $1,000 to pay off an overdue credit card debt. He returned the next week with the $1,000 plus $70 for interest (7% per week). He thereby both won the shark's confidence and aroused his curiosity about what went on in a McGill course called The Underground Economy. It turned out that 'Nick the Shark' had been in business for about 30 years, operating out of a bar he inherited on his father's early demise. Initially he began lending without interest the money from his father's life insurance policy to customers, most of them neighborhood characters with a weakness eually for booze and gambling. But when he heard that some bragged about how they had taken him for a ride, Nick took to charging interest. -- p. 55. |
An uninteded plug for Internet gambling:
| Quote: | | ... Gamblers are regular targets, with loan-sharking done by associates of the same group who run an illicit or rigged gambling operation. Even where gambling is legalized, sharks hang around the casinos, encouraged, in places where casinos are privately owned and run, by the owners to ensure that their lower end or higher risk customers (i.e., those not accommodated directly by the casino) are kept supplied with funds. (-- p. 27) |
Link to this entry
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legal
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| Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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Who in Canada, if anyone, is gambling online?
No stats but see the breakdown of polls on Internet use in Canada in DOJ Canada's report of January, 2002, Electronic Commerce by Noe-Djawn White and Nathalie Quann, and Government Online Checklist of Legal Issues, a DOJ report on e-commerce updated to Oct. 31/03.
For more information:
| Quote: | Electronic Commerce Committee
Contact Rhonda Lazarus (Lazarus.Rhonda@tbs-sct.gc.ca)
(613) 952-3345
Intellectual Property Secretariat
Contact Cal Becker (becker.cal@ic.gc.ca)
(613) 941-8381
Electronic Commerce web site (Department of Justice)
Contact Joan Remsu (joan.remsu@justice.gc.ca)
(613) 946-3118 |
See also the Publications link at the Canada West Foundation.
Link to this entry
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legal
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| Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 1:03 pm Post subject: Richmond, B.C. cracks down on casino loan sharks |
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Another reason to permit Internet gambling in Canada:
My Telus
Richmond's top cop calls for crackdown on gambling crimes
Aug. 12/06
| Quote: | Richmond's top cop is calling for a crackdown on loan sharking and organized crime activity related to gambling. And he's vowing to make it extremely uncomfortable for criminals to work here.
"The time has come," RCMP Supt. Ward Clapham said Friday.
Richmond police have joined forces with the province's integrated illegal gambling enforcement team and Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which manages River Rock Casino Resort, to up the ante against crime. Loan sharking, kidnappings and other criminal activity with suspected links to gambling in general, have severely taxed police resources, Clapham says. ... In June, an Asian man in his early 30s, alleged to owe a significant sum to a loan shark, was kidnapped for ransom. The man's wife, instead of contacting police, spent hours searching out other loan sharks trying to gather enough money to pay off the kidnappers. Some 50 police officers worked the case, and the man was eventually found wandering on Jacombs Road. Four men were arrested, two of them have been charged.
So far in 2006, there have been five kidnappings in Richmond, three of which may have involved gambling-related extortion. Last year, there were 11 kidnappings, with two cases suspected of having roots in gambling. ... And since 2005, there have been two suicides: one involving a loan shark and another in which family members suspect their loved one had accrued gambling debts... And then there's the case of missing Vancouver woman Rong Lilly Li, who according to police was a loan shark and was last seen leaving River Rock Casino on May 26.
... Terry Towns, director of security for B.C. Lottery Corporation, ... said there have been 34 barrings of suspected loan sharks at River Rock Casino Resort over the last 12 months. Barrings are in effect for all casinos in B.C. "However, to keep this in perspective, River Rock has an average of 10,000 visitors per day," Towns said. |
Link to this entry
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legal
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| Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:52 pm Post subject: |
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The Halifax Chronicle-Herald.ca
Extortionists target Internet, Virtual gangsters charge ‘ransom’ to websites
By Chris Lambie
Oct. 30/06
| Quote: | The world’s $13-billion Internet gambling industry is falling prey to "cyber-extortionists" armed with "zombie computers," says a new local study.
Organized crime networks are demanding ransoms from offshore gambling websites, using the threat of shutting them down to extract payouts typically ranging from $45,000 to $67,000, says the Saint Mary’s University study called Fear and Trembling on the Internet: Hacking and Cyber-Extortion at Online Gambling Sites.
"I can assure you cyber-extortion of gambling sites is a serious, serious problem," said John McMullan, a criminologist who did the research with Aunshul Rege, his graduate student. Their paper describes how hackers infiltrate personal computers without the owners’ knowledge. They use viruses to install secret programs allowing criminals to gain control of thousands or even tens of thousands of computers. "Anybody’s computer could be mobilized and herded into a bot Net army without our knowledge," Mr. McMullan said in an interview. The programs can stay dormant for weeks or even months before hackers activate them to attack an Internet gambling site.
...The SMU researchers said the British site Betfair.com makes $180 million a week and the Antigua-based Betwwts.com earns $5.6 million a weekend. "Both wired ransoms to keep their operations online. It was the cost of doing business," says the SMU study.
"Numerous British gambling sites, including Canbet, Harrods Casino, Inter Bingo, Inter Casino Poker, Totalbet, VIP Casino, William Hill, Pady Power, Corals and Blue Square, to name just one sector in the online industry, also paid millions of dollars in protection money in 2003."
Paying to ward off threats doesn’t always mean an end to the problems.
"Once ransoms were paid the attacks stopped, but only for six months or less," says the paper. "Like conventional extortion, it was common for online gambling sites to receive further e-ransom demands."
The research project involved reviewing 3,200 Internet documents, including accounts from online gambling companies, hacker manuals and various police sources including the RCMP, the U.K.’s national high-tech crime unit and the FBI.
Some cyber-extortionists have been caught and imprisoned, Mr. McMullan said. "But, for the most part, it’s a very difficult crime to actually detect, apprehend and prosecute because, in many cases, the criminal isn’t at the site where the crime was actually occurring." |
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legal
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| Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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No, it's not legal for Canadians to gamble online.
Barrie Examiner
Ex-MPP wanted CBC to say sorry; Doug Lewis suing broadcaster over gambling claims
By Tracy McLaughlin
April 17/07
| Quote: | The only thing former Simcoe North MPP Doug Lewis wanted from the CBC was an apology for what he called "gotcha journalism," but he never got one, he said yesterday in court. Now, six years later, Lewis, a former Canadian Justice Minister, is suing the CBC for $800,000 for damaging his reputation in a broadcast that ran April, 2001 which, he claims, "maliciously" suggested he was running an illegal Internet gambling site.
"It was like getting kicked in the stomach," Lewis said on the witness stand. "Here was the national news media running a story saying that I was doing something illegal."
"And were you?" asked his lawyer, Peter Waldmann.
"Absolutely not," Lewis answered.
In the broadcast that ran on CBC's Canada Now and The National, Lewis openly admitted that he was involved in a completely legal Internet gambling business that operated out of the Caribbean island of Antigua. In Canada, Internet gambling is illegal except for government sanctioned gaming, which has prompted many Canadian companies to take their business offshore. In the interview, Lewis stated he believed Canadian laws should change so that billions of dollars in revenue from such sites would stay in Canada. But he insisted any Canadian who tried to log on to his website would be blocked, to concur with Canadian laws. But in the broadcast, CBC reporter Sasa Petricic contradicts Lewis and insists he was able to log on to Lewis' site, Tropical Casino, and place a bet on the Toronto Blue Jays using a Canadian address and Canadian funds, court has heard.
Lewis' lawyer insists Petricic's bet was "caught" within 20 minutes and he was given a full refund the next day. But lawyers for the CBC insist it was his winnings - not a refund.
In the end, it will be up to Superior Court Justice Bruce Glass to decide whether it was a refund or a gambling bet.
Lewis said he later resigned from the Internet software development company to get away from the controversy.
The trial is expected to end next week. |
A few days later:
Orillia Packet & Times
Lewis selected for law society post
By Teviah Moro
May 4/07
| Quote: | Orillia lawyer Doug Lewis has made the cut to join 40 benchers who will serve as the Law Society of Upper Canada's directors over the next four years.
"I wanted to do it, and I'm pleased I've been given the opportunity," said Lewis, who was first called to the bar in 1969. The former Simcoe North MP, and holder of more than one cabinet post, including attorney general, said he has long wanted to serve on the law society's govern- ing body. "I felt it was a way to give back to the profession," he said.
... Twenty benchers are from Toronto, while the other 20 are from outside Toronto. Eight of the 40 are called regional benchers - those who received the most votes in their own electoral region. Lewis is the Central East regional bencher. |
| Quote: | | Note: Still no idea July 18/09 whether Lewis settled with CBC. CBC hasn't said. There's no follow-up available on the Web and terms of settlement are confidential as a matter of law so there's no point asking the litigants. |
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legal
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| Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 10:17 am Post subject: |
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Even Canada's squarest daily jumps on the poker bandwagon:
The Globe and Mail
Take the pot
Learn to play poker from the masters with this new daily column
April 24/07
| Quote: | Analysis
With a 3-5-1 chip deficit, D'Agostino was only one big pot away from making the chip count nearly even. D'Agostino called Mizrachi's minimum bet on the flop with a gutshot-straight draw (needing a queen) and an overcard to the board (a king). D'Agostino attempted to make Mizrachi fold with his all-in checkraise on the turn, and highlighted the difficulty in playing an aggressive player out of position - when they do make a big hand, they tend to get paid off. D'Agostino could have folded on the turn to Mizrachi's sizable bet and kept enough chips to pick a better spot. (From the 2006 Borgata Winter Poker Open, p. R4) |
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legal
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:51 am Post subject: |
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Yes, it is, too, legal for Canadians to gamble online.
Law Times
Senate saves the day for online gambling
By Tim Naumetz
Dec. 10/07
| Quote: | OTTAWA — The so-called chamber of sleepy second thought, the Senate, stepped in at the last minute to amend an innocent-looking clause in a government “housekeeping” bill that might have inadvertently made online gambling illegal in Canada. Liberal Senator George Baker raised a red flag when the bill hit the Senate floor, saying minor amendments to modernize bookmaking laws by removing Criminal Code references to “telephone and telegraph” posed serious consequences for internet servers and home gamblers.
... The blue-ribbon PartyGaming delegation consisted of Mitchell Garber, the company’s chief executive officer and a member of the Quebec bar, Montreal lawyer Brahm Gelfand, chair of PartyGame’s international advisory committee and an attorney with Lapointe Rosenstein LLP, and former RCMP commissioner Norman Inkster, now an adviser to PartyGame. Garber testified that it was unclear whether the new law would ban online gambling sites based abroad from serving Canadians, as the offshore gaming sites were in the U.S. following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, when U.S. officials feared Internet gambling was a way of laundering money for terrorism.
In Canada, offshore sites have remained legal, though domestic gaming sites are not allowed because of provincial licensing jurisdiction over casinos. “The goal is to seek clarity, to ensure that if Parliament is to make an amendment, and is to make this amendment, that the intent of the amendment is not subject to interpretation, is not ambiguous, and that it is clear exactly to whom and what the amendment is meant to apply,” said Garber. “I have heard some testimony about bookies,” he added. “Is this about sports betting, bingo, or poker? All of these things are important for companies such as ours to know. We do not have business operations in Canada. We do have Canadian customers.”. (emphasis added)
Inkster acknowledged the senators might have been surprised at his association with online gambling. “Let me say that before I agreed to work as an adviser for PartyGaming, I had to convince myself they were the gold standard,” he assured the committee. “There is nothing inherently wrong with gambling or gaming, but it does attract bad people,” he went on. “That is why regulation is so important; not just regulation but crystal-clear regulation. I am here to reinforce the encouragement of my colleagues that amendments could be made to make the intent of the law clear.”
Nicholson and a department senior counsel, *Anouk Desaulniers, assured senators the amendment only modernizes existing Criminal Code provisions against bookmaking, where third parties profit from wagers. “The situation will not change,” said Desaulniers, adding internet servers would not be vulnerable unless they wilfully and knowingly took part in bookmaking. But even Conservative Senator Raynell Andreychuk, a former judge and Crown prosecutor in Saskatchewan who sits on the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee, seemed unsure when she attempted to explain the change last week. Andreychuk repeated the government position that the amendments affect only bookmaking, but she wasn’t clear about what forms of online gambling are currently legal in Canada, or whether bookmakers subject to the law would be outside or inside Canada.
“I don’t think situs matters,” she said. “It matters who does it, bookies as opposed to an individual. I think we need to clarify that law.” She wasn’t certain exactly how bookmaking works: “I don’t know. This is not my field. I’ve never used a bookie.” Andreychuk joked she might try out online gambling, as she and other budding prosecutors in Saskatchewan would test Breathalyzers to familiarize themselves for putting evidence in court for impaired-driving cases. “You’d have a drink, but they’d pick you up and drive you home,” she quickly explained. “We went through a learning process.”
Gelfand said the bill’s substitution of Criminal Code references to telephones and telegraphs with references to any form of telecommunication could have a long reach internationally. “If it has a long-arm effect, does that mean that an executive of an offshore corporation which is a legally constituted property licence who is coming into Canada will be arrested and charged with a criminal offence?”
A relieved Garber said later the Conservative chair of the legal and constitutional affairs committee, Senator Don Oliver, assured him the Senate would recommend that the Commons amend the bill to clarify the continuing legality of offshore-based online gambling in Canada. “The senators said very emphatically this would not have an extraterritorial effect.”...[/size] (emphasis added) |
About that 'innocent-looking clause':
| Quote: | 2. Gambling and Betting (Clauses 5 and 6)
Currently, for a person to be convicted of the offence of providing information intended for use in connection with book-making, pool-selling, betting or wagering, that person must use the radio, telegraph, telephone, mail or express.(95)
To reflect current and future technological advances, the bill does not list the means of telecommunication (clause 5). Consequently, the use of any means of telecommunication may result in charges under this offence.
In the same vein, clause 6 of the bill replaces the word “telephone” with “any means of telecommunication” to extend the legality of parimutuel wagering on horse races, regardless of the means of telecommunication used to transmit wagers to a regulated race track betting theatre.(96) (Bill C-13: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (criminal procedure, language of the accused, sentencing and other amendments)* Prepared by Dominique Valiquet, Law and Government Division, 8 November 2007 |
Clear as mud? Ask Justice:
| Quote: | | *Anouk Desaulniers, Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Department of Justice, East Memorial Building, 284 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, (613) 954-1658 (telephone), (613) 941-9310 (facsimile). |
Link to this entry
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legal
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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Forbes
Magazine Subscription
Feds Hound Bodog
By Janet Novack and William P. Barrett
July 30/08
| Quote: | The U.S. government recently seized $24 million from bank accounts linked to Bodog, the giant, illegal-under-U.S.-law Internet gaming operation founded by Canadian tycoon Calvin Ayre.
Federal filings make very clear that a serious criminal investigation of the Bodog enterprise is ongoing. At a minimum, word of the seizures is likely to rattle the confidence of U.S.-based online gamblers that they will receive their winnings, not only from Bodog but from the industry's other remaining participants.
Detailed in court filings in a Baltimore federal court, the Bodog-related seizures from such well-known institutions as Wachovia (nyse: WB - news - people ), Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people ), SunTrust Banks (nyse: STI - news - people ) and Regions Bank, a unit of Regions Financial (nyse: RF - news - people ), increase the possibility of criminal action against Ayre himself. There already has been published speculation in his native Canada that he is under secret indictment somewhere in the U.S. The U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore, which launched the two lawsuits to take the $24 million, did not respond to a request for comment.
The flamboyant Ayre--media reports often call him a "playboy"--is now believed to be in Antigua and Barbuda, a country in the eastern Caribbean. He has denied being on the lam. A request on Wednesday for comment from Ayre, sent through the Web site of his Antigua-based Calvin Ayre Foundation, was not immediately returned. Nor were call and e-mail messages sent to public relations contacts listed on Bodog's Web site.
In early 2006 Ayre rocketed to international prominence--and the cover of Forbes magazine' annual issue on the world's billionaires--for his stewardship from Costa Rica of Bodog Entertainment Group and his open flouting of authorities in the U.S., his major market. The story headline: Catch Me If You Can. The operation was said at the time to be handling $7.3 billion yearly in poker, casino and sports event wagers.
But since then, Ayre has been the subject of law-enforcement raids abroad and growing regulatory scrutiny, especially in the U.S. In late 2006 President Bush signed a law strengthening the prohibition on online gambling. Ayre fell off the Forbes worldwide billionaires list after just one year, amid a decline in his industry's fortunes. ...
Ayre has been trying to put legal distance between himself and the operation he founded in the 1990s. For years its business was run through Internet servers belonging to Mohawk Internet Technologies, located on the Kahnawake Reserve Indian reservation in Quebec, Canada.
In September 2007 Bodog said its North American operations would be licensed to Morris Mohawk Group, also located on the reservation and run by tribal chief Alwyn Morris. Three months ago, Ayre, now 47, said he had transferred ownership of Bodog itself to Morris Mohawk Group. "It's true; I'm packing it in," Ayre wrote on a Web site. ... (emphasis added)
According to Carrow's detailed sworn statements, the IRS's Criminal Investigation Division started looking at Bodog in 2003 and opened a formal probe in 2006. ...
Even before the advent of Bodog, Ayre carried considerable baggage. Close family members were convicted of drug trafficking. (Ayer himself was never charged.) In 1996 Ayre was banned for 20 years from the British Columbia securities industry for stock market offenses. By that time, he was already moving into online gaming. "One of the things that drives me is the excitement that I could fail," he told Forbes in 2006. "What better buzz can you get?" |
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