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Possible New Antigaming Bill In Ontario, Canada


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The MPP who intrudced the bill was just on the same radio show.He said several times, that .NET sites will not be targetted.So this bill, if the politician did not mispeak, DOES NOTHING.Thats what the host said and the legal analyst both said.Much ado about nothing.(and im quite surprised the leverage/lobbying power the horse racing business has in Ontario)

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All bets are off, if Ontario has its wayRICHARD BLACKWELL From Thursday's Globe and MailThe Ontario government is expected to introduce legislation Thursday that will ban advertisements of illegal Internet gambling websites.But the new law — part of a broad package of consumer legislation — could create a huge headache for media companies that will have to closely examine advertisements to make sure they don't include indirect links to illegal sites.The legislation will not stop advertising of free poker sites or similar sites where no money changes hands, unless those sites have links to betting sites, said Paul de Zara, a spokesman for Ontario's Minister of Government Services, Gerry Phillips.It is not unusual for the province to ban advertising of illegal activities, Mr. de Zara said. “We don't allow drug dealers to advertise crack houses or after-hours booze cans in the Toronto Star or The Globe and Mail, and this is the same kind of principle,” he said.In an interview, Mr. Phillips said the province wanted to act because of studies that show “an increasing number of young people are gambling on the Internet.” He also said he has been under pressure from the province's horse-racing industry, which is concerned about a decline in business because of Internet gambling.Because the province doesn't have the power to actually shut down the websites — that would have to be done by the federal government under the criminal code — the best it can do it ban the advertising, Mr. de Zara said.But the actual legal status of gambling websites is not absolutely clear, said Danielle Bush, a lawyer who follows the issue at McCarthy Tétrault in Toronto.While operating a betting site in Canada is illegal, sites that are based offshore — for instance in Britain, where on-line gambling is legal — fall in a “grey area,” Ms. Bush said. And there is nothing in the criminal code that says it is illegal for an individual to place bets on-line, she said.At the same time, it will be tough for media outlets to monitor their advertisers to ensure they are adhering to the law, Ms. Bush said.“They are going to have to examine every ad that they carry and start looking with a microscope at the website address and chase it down to see where it leads, to decide whether or not that's an illegal gaming site,” she said. “That sounds impossible to me.”And if media firms refused to run ads without strong evidence of illegal activity, they could end up subject to lawsuits from advertisers, Ms. Bush said.Over all, it is very difficult for governments to stop on-line gambling, she said. Some, like Britain, have decided to try to regulate it rather than to ban it.“On-line gaming is a fact of life now in North America and worldwide, and I don't think there are many people left who think it is going to go away or lessen in any significant fashion,” she said.The United States, however, is trying to stamp it out, and has recently introduced legislation that tries to prevent banks from getting involved in payments to on-line gambling firms, wherever they are based. That legislation is also expected to be difficult to enforce.Mr. Phillips said he has written to the federal government to ask them to take more action against Internet gambling. However, “I'm not sure what they should do” to stem it, he said.
Of course in an interview they trott out the usual "child protection" and other strawmen justifications for their actiions but at least one minister admited that lobbying from the horseracing industry played a large part.What the gov't does not want to admit is that the gov'ts sport book making operations, Pro-Line and the gov't Casino's profits are suffering due to the competition of the internet. Ontarios largest casino laid off more then 100 employees last week due to declining sales. Also the gov't is not getting their cut by being able to tax these transactions.This is protectionism pure and simple. In the old days the mobster would send out someone to break your knee caps if you cut into his gaming profits. In this case the gov't will send enforcers with guns to your home to ensure the profits only flow into their coffers.
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the current ontario govt is misguided in many many issuesthey will not be re elected, cause they are screwing up too many thingsthis issue is a small minor example of their missing the boatthey think that by stopping the advertizingwill motivate me to frequent a horse racing tracki haven't been in over 30 years, and don't plan to ever againthere is no attractionthe kids growing up today will never go to the trackregarding the casinos losing revenue year to datewindsor/niagara can not compete with detroit and niagara falls,nythe americans offer cigarette smoking and free alcoholand the US$ is almost = to the CDN$the canadians have over expanded their physical plantsand have not met the competitionthe US customer prefers to play at their own home casinos,and many canadians are willing to cross the borderfor the smoking and free alcoholthis proposed bill will not effect any benefits to canadago figure

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Some poker/gambling sites are regulated by the The Kahnawake Gaming Commission, based on an Native Reserve in Canada (Quebec). Native people in Canada are given "a broad right to manage the use of their reserve lands." If the Canadian government persues any anti-gaming legislation in the future, would this contradict the Constitution? If the Natives can gamble online, why can't other Canadians? I know this has nothing to do with the proposed bill in Ontario, but I found it interesting, Poker Stars and Full Tilt basically have servers in North America.Wikipedia quote:

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission offers gambling licenses to Internet-based poker, casino, and sportsbook sites and has established Kahnawake as a substantial player in that business. Many sites are hosted and managed by a local data center called MIT or (Mohawk Internet Technologies) located within the territory. MIT is the closest and fastest source for "legally hosted" gambling websites for their North American players....Both the Canadian and Quebec governments dispute the legality of Kahnawake's gambling operations, but have not risked taking further action due to the harsh international repercussions that followed the Oka Crisis. The websites hosted within Kahnawake are the only privately-owned gambling sites that have operated in continental North America without legal action being taken against them.
http://www.kahonwes.com/iroquois/article001.htm
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Here's my response from the other thread on this:Canada sucks! Hahahaha it must suck to live in a country where they regulate shit like that. Move to the US suckers, everything's legal here! :club:
If by everything you mean nothing. What's legal in the majority of the US that is not in Canada?I know you're kidding but there's like no basis for it.hmm...lemme think.Okay, Americans can legally carry fire arms. You got that although a Canadian hunter can carry a gun but it's admittedly a lot more work.In Canada...Pot is pretty much decriminalized.Escorting is not illegal so it is pretty much legalized prostitution.hmm...what else?Oh right...we can legally play online poker...SUCKAS!!
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The MPP who intrudced the bill was just on the same radio show.He said several times, that .NET sites will not be targetted.So this bill, if the politician did not mispeak, DOES NOTHING.Thats what the host said and the legal analyst both said.Much ado about nothing.(and im quite surprised the leverage/lobbying power the horse racing business has in Ontario)
Much ado about nothing is right. This bill is unlikely to be passed, and only affects advertising of .com poker sites, or .net (no money) sites that link to .coms. I'd actually like it if party was forced to pull some of their commercials I've seen 1000s of times.Outlawing poker isn't an issue in Canada and likely won't be for some time, if ever. Criminal law is a federal power under our constitution, so only the federal government could pass a law on the subject. Justice minister Vic Toews has said on record that onling poker is "not a priority" for the government at this time.Now I'm speculating here, but I think the only federal party that would introduce an anti-online poker bill would be the conservatives. They would probably need a majority government (ie. more seats than all the other parties combined) to pass this as the leftist liberals and NDPs probably wouldn't support such a bill. The Conservativesare down in polls compared to the liberals lately, so it's very unlikely they'll have a majority government anytime soon.In sum, online poker is here to stay in Canada.
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Isn't it hypocritical for the Ontario government to regulate and take bets online for horse racing at Woodbine Racetrack but is not interested in regulating other forms of online gambling?:club: If this bill passes, will it be illegal for Woodbine to advertise?If you live in Ontario, email your MPP!

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If by everything you mean nothing. What's legal in the majority of the US that is not in Canada?I know you're kidding but there's like no basis for it.hmm...lemme think.Okay, Americans can legally carry fire arms. You got that although a Canadian hunter can carry a gun but it's admittedly a lot more work.In Canada...Pot is pretty much decriminalized.Escorting is not illegal so it is pretty much legalized prostitution.hmm...what else?Oh right...we can legally play online poker...SUCKAS!!
Is detection of sarcasm legal in Canada? Because it is here in America.
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