PokerPages Home Page PokerPages Poker School Download Poker Software
FREE Sign Up!
Username Password  
     Tournament News:   Daily     New     Last Month     This Month     Next Month     WSOP      WSOPE     WPT     EPT     APPT     LAPT
PokerPages > Poker News > Poker News

Poker News - Poker News

Will Racetracks Push Canada to Regulate Online Poker or Wipe It Out?

by PokerPages.com
Fri, Mar 7th, 2008 @ 12:00am

Following Canadian Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson's suggestion earlier this week to consider 'other measures' against 400 or more online poker and online gambling sites licensed by the Kahnawake first nation enclave south of Montreal (namely to introduce a UIGEA-like bill to block financial transactions), Canadian racetrack owners are now making their influential opinions known.

What they are telling the Ottawa government is that they either want to see no more online gambling in Canada, or a change in legislation to allow them greater access to the billion-dollar industry.

They voice pent up frustration to change the current situation where they feel that Kahnawake licensees have an unfair advantage by paying little overhead and no taxes to Canada, according to an article on Online-Casinos.com

Track owners say that while they add to local employment and pay taxes, they labor under many restrictions. Most important, they are allowed to take online bets only in their local areas, while offshore operators can take all sorts of sporting bets from anywhere without supporting the local industry.

"It's having a severe impact on our business," said Jane Holmes, vice-president of corporate affairs for Woodbine Entertainment Group, whose holdings include Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack. She estimates it has lost about $200 million to other sites.

Liberal MP Roy Cullen, whose Etobicoke North riding includes Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack, said he plans to follow the Minister of Justice's lead by introducing a private members' bill that would require financial institutions and credit card companies to block Internet betting transactions.

KAHNAWAKE IS OK WITH FREE ENTERPRISE

Joe Delaronde, spokesperson for the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, said that the council is indifferent to changes in legislation that would allow horse-racing tracks to expand into all sports betting online. "If the Canadian government changes their laws and allows that, it's free enterprise, it's a competitive market."

He doubts the federal government would try to shut down the Kahnawake licensee sites. "It would be very unwise of the government. This operation is taking place in our jurisdiction."

GAMING EXPERT THINKS CANADA WILL REGULATE, NOT BAN, ONLINE GAMBLING

Michael Lipton, a recognised gaming law expert and the senior partner at a Toronto law firm was asked by Casino City for his insight on how Canada might move forward.

His felt if history has anything to do with it, the industry could expect to see regulated versus prohibited Internet gambling in Canada, nor was there was any major public demand for an online gambling ban legislation in Canada.

"From all of the information that I've seen, I don't see any hue and cry from the public about banning Internet gaming," he said.

"I think the public would like to regulate. And the Kahnawake would be absolutely delighted. It would also give the gaming software industry that is so big here a huge boost.

"There are 85 countries worldwide that have regulated online gaming. Maybe it's Canada's time to do the same" Lipton added.

Read Related Article:

  • Canada Targets Kahnawake Online Poker Sites and More for UIGEA Ban
  • Kahnawake Reassures Online Poker and Online Gambling Licensees
  •  

     
     

    More Poker News Articles

    World Series of Poker: Ante Up for Africa
    12am Fri Jul 3rd, 2009

    The Ante Up for Africa Charity Tournament is one of the biggest poker charity events of the year. This charity tournament supports the refugees from the Sudan region of Darfur. After nine hours of play, Alexander (Alex) Bolotin was crowned the champion of the Ante Up for Africa tournament and won $177,730 for his first place finish.

    World Series of Poker Event 56: Matt Hawrilenko Takes Down Bracelet and $1 Million
    12am Fri Jul 3rd, 2009

    The $5,000 Six Handed No Limit Hold'em event was the last event to be held at the World Series of Poker 2009 before the famous Main Event starts. Event number 56 saw 928 players register for their chance to win the last bracelet to be offered this summer. The next bracelet of the Series will not be awarded until November when the Main Event final table wraps up. Adding to the excitement of this event, there was a total prize pool of over $4.3 million, and the winner of the event was guaranteed to come out a millionaire.

    World Series of Poker Event 54: Tony Veckey Wins
    12am Thu Jul 2nd, 2009

    Event 54 sold out in a hurry as 2,818 people gobbled up all of the seats for the last low buy-in No Limit Hold''m tournament of the World Series of Poker. This was a new event added to satisfy the enormous public demand for this level of event. $1,500 from each of the entrants produced a prize pool of $3,846,570, with payouts down to 297.

    World Series of Poker Event 52: German Jorg Peisert Wins
    12am Wed Jul 1st, 2009

    Jorg Peisert from Dusseldorf, Germany won the inaugural Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em event at this year's World Series of Poker. Peisert outlasted 853 other players who put up $3000 to play in this No Limit Hold'em event. The total prize pool was $2,357,040 and 81 players took home a cut. 81st place took home $5,892, but the lion's share, $506,800, went to Peisert. On the final day, Peisert started in 6th chip position and worked his way up to a chip juggernaut, eliminating players and collecting chips along the way. Notable players who cashed in this tournament include, Eric 'Rizen' Lynch (12th), An 'The Boss' Tran, Mike 'The Mad Genius of Poker' Caro (23rd), and Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari (24th).

    World Series of Poker Event 53: New Orleans Resident David Halpern Wins
    12am Wed Jul 1st, 2009

    David Halpern from New Orleans, LA won the $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or Better Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Halpern outlasted 467 other players to win $159,048 for winning the tournament. Halpern has already cashed once this year (Pot Limit Omaha), but this is his first WSOP bracelet. The $657,455 prize pool was spread out amongst 48 players who cashed. Halpern battled William Kohler for over three hour heads-up. Battled is a strong word, as both players seemed enamored of each other and even went to dinner together during the break. They traded the chip lead back and forth until Kohler seized it for good. Other notable players who cashed includes Chad Brown (4th), Matt Savage (5th), Andy Bloch (23rd), and Norman Chad (32rd).

    World Series of Poker event 49: David Bach Wins $50K HORSE Event
    12am Wed Jul 1st, 2009

    The 2009 $50,000 HORSE event attracted 95 of the world's best poker players. The number of entrants decreased from the previous year which attracted 148 entrants. As play began, player's speculated as to the reason why the numbers decreased so dramatically. Was it the economy? Was it Scotty Nguyen's drunken tirade last year? Many believed that it was ESPN's unfortunate decision to not televise this year's final table. Even though the field decreased, the players still had a full five days of play. 87 players would be eliminated on the way to a star studded final table. After 20 hours of play, David Bach was proclaimed the winner of the 2009 $50,000 HORSE event. He took home the bracelet, the Chip Reese Memorial trophy, and the $1,276,806 first place prize.

    World Series of Poker Event 55: Abe Mosseri Wins First WSOP Bracelet
    12am Wed Jul 1st, 2009

    Abraham Mosseri from New York City won the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Lowball (Limit) event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Mosseri outlasted 257 other players to win $165,513 and the accompanying gold bracelet. This is Mosseri's first WSOP bracelet and third cash. This was his 2nd final table of this year's Series. Mosseri and others amassed a prize pool of $593,400. Only 24 players got a piece of it though. Mosseri ended Day 1 in 13th place with 39,100 in chips. By the end of Day 2, Mosseri was the chip leader with 447,000. Mosseri maintained his chip lead through most of the day. It would come down to him and Masayoshi Tanaka, who started the day with second most chips. Tanaka had the lead as heads up began, but it was meant to be for Mosseri who played aggressively and caught cards at the right time to eventually eliminate Tanaka. Notables at today's final table included three time bracelet winner John Juanda (4th), Blair Rodman (5th) and Nam Le (9th). Daniel Negreanu cashed in 16th and Hasan Habib finished in 18th.

    World Series of Poker Event 51: Carsten Joh Wins Sold Out NLHE Event
    12am Tue Jun 30th, 2009

    Carsten Joh defeated a sellout crowd to win his first bracelet in the penultimate $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event of 2009. Joh beat Andrew Chen heads up to bring home Germany's first bracelet of the Series. The event began with a largely amateur crowd, and the big names that made it to Day 2 quickly found themselves on the sidelines. Men Nguyen, Tony Cousineau, and Matt Brady outlasted most of the field but failed to make it to Day 3.

    World Series of Poker Event 50: Greg 'FBT' Mueller Wins 2nd '09 Bracelet
    12am Mon Jun 29th, 2009

    The $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout should put to rest any questions about the skill required to play Limit. By the time the event was down to two players, it was a heads up match between the owners of the last two Limit bracelets awarded at the WSOP. Greg 'FBT' Mueller defeated Marc Naalden to win his second bracelet of the year, making him the fourth person to claim more than one in 2009. Naalden now has 1st and 2nd place finishes in Limit tournaments this year. He also cashed in a Mixed Hold'em event.

    World Series of Poker Event 48: Brandon 'any2cantu' Cantu Wins
    12am Sun Jun 28th, 2009

    After finishing runner-up at a final table a week ago, Brandon Cantu got a second chance to win a second bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Split event. This time, Cantu closed the deal in a tough heads up match with Lee Watkinson and picked up the WSOP gold. Brandon 'any2cantu', known for his creative and sometimes loose style of play, was as shocked as everyone else when he turned over Aces more than ten times on Day 2. "This is the hottest streak I've ever been on in my life," he told Phil Hellmuth, who was eliminated in 14th place. By the time the field was narrowed to 25 players, Brandon had nearly 25% of the chips in play.

    Download Poker Software
    PokerPages
    Newsletter
    Online Poker »
    Poker News »
    Blog Coverage


    Top News
    Top Tournaments