Golden Palace Fined by Quebec

A $2 million fine must be paid by GoldenPalace after pleading guilty to illegal gaming charges. The charges were filed against Cyber World Group who is responsible for administering the online casino and poker site. The company pleaded guilty in September but the sentence was not handed out until this week.
The CBC French-language news service reported the story and stated that the charges against the virtual casino are the first ever by Quebec. The Golden Palace offices in Montreal were raided by Quebec police last year because according to the Criminal Code, the provincial government is the only authority able to hand out gaming licenses. It was believed that the Golden Palace company was not adhering to this rule. The Cyber World Group uses a server on the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve which is maintained under Canada’s constitution. Traditional native rights are protected on the reserve and that includes allowing the reserve to provide space on servers to house online casinos.
Kahnawake provides servers for almost 60% of the world’s online gambling traffic. Many, many betting sites are hosted on servers and many online casino and poker sites are licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Joe Delaronde, a member of the Kahnawake band council, told CBC that the Mohawk Gaming Commission has already handed out 443 permits without any problems. In fact the territory is recognized as a world leader in Internet gambling. "You go to any of the publications around the world about this, and Kahnawake is well-respected," Delaronde told CBC. "The only place where there is a question is in [our] backyard." He says the charges and fines in Quebec are part of a wider jurisdictional battle between the Mohawk community and provincial and federal governments.
It is believed that the government may be getting tired of tolerating online gaming and may soon see new laws being put into effect regarding their intolerance.