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Quebec, British Columbia as well as Canadas four atlantic provinces may soon be able to benefit from the legalization and regulation of online poker. Loto-Quebec has put forward a propsal to the government of the province "for an internet wagering initiative in partnership with British Columbia and the four Atlantic Provinces which already have limited online gaming." according to a Canadian News outlet. Loto-Quebec has claimed that Canadians are already placating over 2,000 offshore internet gambling outfits which in turn sends almost $700 million in wagers away from the country annually, a figure which is likely to grow to pass to over $1 billion in three years. Quebec currently plays home to The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC for short) which is situated on the indian reservation under the same name located outside of the city. Although the KGC isn't linked at this current time to Loto-Quebec's endeavors, the chairman of the organization has told reporters "The fact that Quebec is now entering the online gaming business in partnership with the Atlantic provinces and British Columbia is an indication that the industry is thriving and is gaining wider acceptance. For over 10 years, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission has had a positive working relationship with online gaming regulators throughout the world and looks forward to sharing its knowledge and experience with the Régie des alcools des courses et des jeux.”
The KGC has only recently finished investigations surrounding the popular online gambling site Ultimate bet. The gambling site recently changed its name to UB.com. In reports filed in september, the KGC continued to point the finger at the former World Series of Poker main event champion Russ Hamilton as the real mastermind behind the scandal and also noted that there were 31 other people who were involved but they did not identify these individuals. The KGC also gave a lisitng of over 100 screen names which were assosciated with the misgivings, a list that included names such as nvtease, sleeplesss, and the infamous screen name NioNio. When taking into consideration the atmosphere of the internet, Canadian control of the online poker industry is likely to bring with it a significant level of validity. “The integrity of the online games often is dubious, as it was for some lotteries and VLTs before Loto-Québec was mandated by the government to funnel them into controlled circuits and oversee them,” noted Loto-Québec President and CEO Alain Cousineau. Loto-Quebec went on to add $1.4 billion to the bottom line of the province during the last fiscal year. Potentially adding more pressure to Loto-Quebec to both regulate and legalize the internet version of poker is a step towards licencing in the United States of America, spearheaded by Congressman Barney Frank. In May 2009, this lawmaker introduced HR 2267, what is known as the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, which establishes a full framework for legalizing the act of internet gamling in the USA. The measure is up to 63 co-sponsors including Anthony Weiner who signed in the last week. The PPA (Poker Players Alliance) expects the act to be marked up in the house Financial Services Committee of which Barney Frank is the Chair, In January. There have been other reports which have given signals that markup is instead coming in december of this year. As of December 1st 2009, the financial services industry in the United States of America must be in full compliance with the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) which was passed in 2006 (this act is discussed elsewhere in the forums in more detail). The Poker Players Alliance and many other organizations have been working extremely hard to delay the date of full compliance neccessity by another year but so far their pleas to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the United States Congress have not been heard nor accepted. Earlier in the year, revelations were meade that newly created Harrah's Interactive Entertainment (HIE for short) which was headed by former Party Gaming CEO Mitch Garber, would be Montreal based. Former World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffery Pollack was slated at first to be the president of HIE but recently walked away from the Las vegas based Gambling giant.