Golden Palace on illegal gambling charges

Online casino giant Golden Palace, run by the Cyber World Group, must pay a $2 million fine after pleading guilty to charges of illegal gambling. The casino is operated by the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve, in Quebec, which operates licences for about 60% of worldwide gambling sites.

The prosecution asserts that licences can only be issued by the provincial government, which is why they raided the casinos offices last year. Kahnawake is a world leader in online gambling, and has been issuing licenses for years. However, this seems to be somewhat of a grey area in the law, despite the fact that the Canadian constitution protects the rights of native Indian reserves. The case shows an effort by Canadian authorities to crack down on online gaming.