The Kahnawake Gaming Commission has reinstated the gaming license of Full Tilt Poker, shortly after having revoked it. Though the embattled online poker room still cannot offer games to customers in the jurisdiction, it’s a small piece of good news for a company that has had nothing but bad (mostly of their own doing).

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is a regulatory agency run by the Mohawk tribe of Native Americans in Canada, south of Montreal. To maintain a gambling license from the KGC, its rules require that the company have a primary gambling license in a “comparable jurisdiction.” Full Tilt Poker was originally licensed by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. However, after Alderney suspended Full Tilt’s license, the Kahnawake did the same, thinking that the company was no longer eligible.

However, since then, the KGC released a statement saying that the Aldnerney regulators have confirmed to the Commission, that even though Full Tilt’s license is suspended pending the outcome of a hearing, “these licenses are still considered to be valid.”

It’s a little unnerving that the Kahnawake regulators reinstated the license simply because they could. While it’s true that Full Tilt is shut down and cannot run their business until after the hearing anyway, the reputation of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and the whole industry is at stake here. With everything that is happening with Full Tilt, the correct response seems to be distancing yourself from them. If they are a bad apple, which they seem to be, the industry needs to make it clear that their kind is not tolerated.

Though there are definitely benefits to being the first to do something, there are drawbacks as well. While I’m sure the first person who bungee jumped felt a thrill like no one else and is probably famous in thrill-seeking circles, it’s not without risks. I wouldn’t want to be the person to find out I used a bungee cord a little too long. The same goes for technology. I never buy the first generation of any new technology, because it’s usually full of bugs and is overly expensive. I wait awhile for the cheaper, bug-free version. That is kind of what the Canadian province of Ontario is doing.

Back in August, Ontario became the third Canadian province to pass a law regulating online gambling. Being third is good, because it lets them learn from the mistakes of the first two (British Columbia and Quebec). Put simply, Ontario wants to avoid being like British Columbia. We all remember the debacle with the BC Lottery’s PlayNow.com website, which had to be shut down hours after opening due to a security breach that exposed players’ sensitive information and funds.

To that end, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is taking extra care with the launch of its website. This week they hired an online gambling expert, Sports Gaming Limited, to serve as consultant for the project. They will advise the lottery on the implementation of their online gambling website, including making sure it is safe and secure. There is no specific timetable for launch of the online casino, but it is expected to be sometime this year. In a statement, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation said that they “will benefit from analyzing and enhancing best practices and security procedures adopted in other jurisdictions across Canada and in Europe.” The lottery will make player protection, secure transactions and a program for responsible gambling a priority.

Recently online gamblers in the Canadian province of Quebec experienced a landmark day. It was the grand opening of the province’s first government-licensed online gambling website, espacejeux.com. The online casino is run by the province’s lottery monopoly, Loto-Quebec.

The local news has reported that hundreds of players visited the casino website during its first day of operation. That number actually sounds low to me, but the media may have underreported the number (they have been known to do that when they oppose something).

To coincide with the launch of the new online casino, Loto-Quebec offered some enticing deals. Or if you read the press, they “lured” poor innocent people to their website with deals that are too good to pass up, knowing those players will eventually become degenerate gambling addicts who will end up living on the street and hooked on crack.

One such deal was a $20 “free bet” offer that was sent to members of Loto-Quebec’s loyalty program, called Casino Privileges. Approximately 100,000 members were sent that special offer, letting them bet $20 on the house with no deposit necessary. Anyone who preregistered for the online casino were also offered a $10 free bet.

Opponents of casino expansion pounced on those promotions for enticing players to join the casino. Um, doesn’t any company want to influence people into patronizing them? Opponents think that even if the online casino is allowed to exist, it shouldn’t be allowed to try to attract customers. I know this is Canada we’re talking about, but I figured they knew a little more about capitalism than that.

Of course, Loto-Quebec’s espacejeux.com isn’t the only game in town and probably not even the best game in town. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission, made up of the Mohawks of Kahnawake, also offer online gambling. Just don’t tell Loto-Quebec’s opponents about that. They might have a heart attack.

Online gambling is all the rage in Canada. British Columbia and Quebec have already launched their own government-run online casinos. Ontario plans to have an internet casino up and running by 2012. It seems that every other province has weighed in one way or the other on the subject. Now the government agency that oversees tribal gaming in Saskatchewan wants a study on the subject.

The Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA), which owns six First Nations casinos in Saskatchewan, has announced an intention to study the prospects of bringing online gambling to the nation. The company, which employs more than 2,000 people (mostly First Nations people), has released a “request for information on the products offered by suppliers that could assist SIGA in conducting research on Internet gambling.”

Though the Saskatchewan government is working with the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority, SIGA is being given the freedom to conduct its own initial research. Current estimates are that online gambling in the province is an industry worth $30-$40 million. The group wants to find out how much of that money can be a revenue source for SIGA.

The Saskatchewan government, of course, wants to know how much money they stand to benefit from online gambling as well. Currently SIGA and the government have not discussed revenue sharing for the potential new market. In their current agreement, AIGA gives 50% of their profits to the First Nations Trust – which is distributed to the people of the Saskatchewan First Nations, 25% of the revenue goes to the provincial government, and 25% goes to the Community Development Corporations.

Since SIGA is only now beginning to study online gambling, it is unlikely that anything will happen soon, but the hope is that within a few years, the First Nations will be able to offer online casino versions of their tribal casinos for Saskatchewan gamblers.

On Friday, Loto-Quebec’s gambling website went online, giving residents of the Canadian province the first officially licensed and regulated online casino on which to play. Despite controversy and the problems in British Columbia, Quebec pushed forward, determined to give their residents another option for gaming.

The government-run online casino is called Espacejeux.com and it offers online poker games, blackjack, roulette, baccarat and more. Through the gambling website, the Canadian province expects to earn approximately $50 million in revenue in 2012. Though revenues have declined lately, Loto-Quebec is still reporting good profits – they reported $925 million in revenue for April through June.

The online casino launch isn’t without controversy, of course. There are some who oppose gambling and think that the government shouldn’t make it easier – or legal – to play games for money online. Some also worry about the threat of problem gambling. To combat that issue, Loto-Quebec has instituted wagering limits. Starting in December – the first full month of the website – players can only wager up to $9,999 per week at Espacejeux.com. Another issue is whether or not the government is competent to run an online casino, a question highlighted by the problems experienced by British Columbia’s PlayNow.com website.

Proponents of the new gambling website, however, say that the government running the licensed and regulated website is a way of protecting players from the “unregulated” websites on which the residents has been illegally playing. However, as anyone knowledgeable about online gambling can tell you, any of the big and reputable online casinos are in fact regulated. They are regulated either by the government in whose jurisdiction they reside or by a private regulatory agency. The idea that the government needs to protect people from unregulated online casinos is a myth.

The government is sticking with the story that they are providing a safer environment for online gamblers, though. Loto-Quebec CEO Alain Cousineau said that their job is “to channel the gaming offer on a controlled site.” He also said that the reason they originally offered a lottery is because “illegal sweepstakes were all over the place.” They then added video lottery terminals to combat illegal slot machines and this year, the Quebec government approved an online casino to combat the 2,000 “unregulated” online casinos available to residents. The government is expecting from 10,000 to 20,000 Quebec residents to gamble on the new website by Christmastime.

Eventually, loyal Gambling Review readers will be experts on all of the Canadian provinces. Manitoba is next on the list of provinces to take on the online gambling issue and their answer, at least for now, is no.

A few days ago, Nova Scotia made an official announcement that they had no plans to regulate online gambling. Now, Manitoba is following their lead. Manitoba’s Premier, Greg Selinger, stated that while he’s not ruling out the possibility of eventually legalizing and regulating the market, he wants “a careful review of whether it’s positive for people who play online.” He did admit that people are already playing on the thousands of “unregulated sites” with “no protections in terms of addictions and supports.” Before making a decision either way, Premier Selinger wants to be sure he doesn’t do anything harmful to the public.

I should point out that, though Selinger is right about the online casinos currently available, most of them are regulated by someone, though not necessarily a government agency. Private entities such as eCOGRA regulate a large number of Internet casinos.

The gambling issue has become a hot topic in Canada and it is being addressed in all of the provinces, from the largest (Ontario) to the smallest (Prince Edward Island). While Nova Scotia and Manitoba have come out against online gambling, at least for the time being, Prince Edward Island is on the fence and hasn’t made a decision yet. Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, the three largest provinces (in terms of population) have all decided to legalize and regulate the industry and BC already has their own online casino up and running.

With parts of Canada opting to establish their own online casinos, it was only a matter of time before they started weeding out the competition. After all, governments don’t like competition from the private sector. Starting tomorrow, September 24, groups of online gambling sites will no longer allow Canadian customers to download and play their games.

Though more companies are likely to join the ban, so far only Paddy Power, bwin and Casino Club have stated that they will no longer allow Canadians to download and play their games. All three companies use software developed by Boss Media for their download casinos, but also have no-download streaming versions of their games that were developed by other companies. Interestingly, though the online gambling sites explained that Canadians can no longer download and play their games, there is nothing preventing those same customers from playing the no-download games. For that reason, the speculation is that the Canadian ban was decided by Boss Media.

But why would Boss Media make that call? Likely at the urging of the Canadian governments, specifically the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation and Loto-Quebec. To shed a little light on the move, Casino Club released a statement saying that due to new regulations by the aforementioned lottery corporations, “online gaming products in Canada are prohibited. Unfortunately we are required to add Canada to our list of excluded countries.”

If the Canadian lottery corporations are strong-arming companies into banning Canadian customers, you can bet that those three companies won’t be the only to release a similar statement. If you live in Canada, you may soon have no choice but to play on the province-run online casinos.

I swear that Grambling Review is not a Canadian website…not that there’s anything wrong with that. We have been covering Canada a lot lately and I am here with more Canadian news, this time about Prince Edward Island. To recap our Canuck coverage so far, British Columbia has launched North America’s first online casino, which was shut down for security purposes and then re-launched. Quebec plans to launch an online casino in the fall and Ontario wants one launched by 2012. Newfoundland and Labrador opposes online gambling and Nova Scotia is all for it, even though the Atlantic Lottery Corporation is against it and wants to protect their own gambling monopoly.

Prince Edward Island, a tiny Canadian island province with only a little over 140,000 residents, may be the next to rock the ALC’s boat. Though the province is also a member of the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, recent reports suggest that it is considering legalizing and regulating online gambling in order to grab an estimated $50 million in revenue.

Wes Sheridan, Finance Minister of Prince Edward Island, said that since many residents are already gambling on overseas online casinos – something he considers dangerous – the best thing he can do for the people is provide a safe, regulated online gambling industry. An added benefit would be that $50 million the market could generate.

At this point, it seems that Sheridan and the rest of the government are open to several options, which could include Prince Edward Island opening their own online casino or the Atlantic provinces sharing one. Since Nova Scotia also wants online gambling, that may be the best idea.

Sheridan told CBC News that he proposes that the government “go forward and put a site up there to compete with these offshore entities and play in a regulated, policed kind of fashion.” Of course, the idea that an online casino is safer if the government runs it seems a little silly when you consider British Columbia’s PlayNow.com debacle.

Are you sick of hearing about Canadian provinces and their deals with online gambling? I hope not. We’ve already heard about British Columbia’s adventures with their online casino, Quebec’s plans to launch an online casino this fall, PlayNow.com, Ontario’s plans for an online casino by 2012 and Newfoundland and Labrador’s opposition to online gambling. I’ve even written about the speculation – largely unfounded – that Alberta may move to regulate online gambling as well. Therefore, I may as well mention Nova Scotia.

Even by Canada’s standards, the province of Nova Scotia is kind of inconsequential for the rest of the world. It’s a small piece of land with fewer than 54,000 residents. Still, sources say that the province’s government is planning to introduce online gambling legislation. This despite the fact that the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, which is the lottery for four governments – including Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island – is opposed to online gambling.

The Atlantic Lottery Corporation currently runs their own online gambling monopoly, PlaySphere, which sells lottery tickets and allows gambling games such as bingo and keno. Perhaps there is a conflict of interest there, in that they want to be the only game in town. Maybe Nova Scotia can satisfy them by approving an online casino but having it featured on the PlaySphere website. Then again, we’ve seen that online casinos run by governments instead of private businesses aren’t necessarily a good thing.

Graham Steele, Finance Minister of Nova Scotia, supports bringing online gambling to the province and said that they can do it even if all four members of the Atlantic Lottery Corporation don’t agree on the issue.

British Columbia’s controversial online casino is back up and running. At 7:00 PM last night, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation’s PlayNow.com website was re-launched, giving players in the Canadian province the first opportunity in more than a month to play their favorite casino games online.

The online casino was the first launched in North America but it only lasted a couple hours before a security breach caused it to be shut down. A glitch in the software allowed some players to use the accounts of others, wagering with someone else’s money. For security reasons, the website was quickly shut down and only re-launched after an investigation concluded that it was safe.

Following the shutdown of the online casino, the Lottery Corporation went to work investigating the incident, along with an independent investigation from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and another review by a private consulting firm, Deloitte. At the end of the investigation, those involved concluded that the problem was caused by a software glitch that would have been “almost impossible” for the BCLC to foresee.

Is that supposed to make me feel better? Right now I’m wondering if there are any other glitches that are almost impossible to see. I don’t know about you, but if I was a resident of British Columbia, I’m not sure I would feel comfortable gambling at their online casino. This debacle is yet another in a long list of examples of how government has never been able to run a business as well as a private enterprise. British Columbia residents should demand private casinos, separate from their bumbling government.

The British Columbia Lottery Corporation estimates that each day the website was shut down they lost $150,000 in revenue. In total, they estimate losing $5 million while the online casino was shut down. PlayNow.com is the first online casino to be launched in North America, though Quebec expects to launch one of their own this fall and Ontario plans to follow by the year 2012.