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The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke has stepped back from the Supreme Court case that will decide whether Ontario can legally pool liquidity in peer‑to‑peer iGaming with players outside Canada.
The council, based in Québec, had earlier joined the Ontario Court of Appeal proceedings as an intervening party, alongside the Canadian Gaming Association and major poker operators such as Flutter’s PokerStars and NSUS’s GGPoker.
The Ontario court previously ruled that linking players across borders for games like online poker and daily fantasy sports would be lawful under the Criminal Code.
That decision prompted several provincial lottery corporations, including Atlantic Lottery Corporation, British Columbia Lottery Corporation, and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, to file an appeal to the Supreme Court. Loto‑Québec later joined the challenge, while Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis entered as an intervening party supporting Ontario.
Kahnawà:ke says case would not be the “most effective use of resources”
Tehosterihens Deer, speaking for the council, explained in an email to Canadian Gaming Business that their arguments had already been put forward during the Ontario Court of Appeal hearings and would be shared by other intervenors.
“The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke carefully considered its involvement at the appellate level and determined that its perspective would be sufficiently reflected by other intervenors in the proceedings based on the arguments raised at the Court of Appeal,” he said.
The coucil also stressed the importance of using its resources wisely. “In addition, the Council is mindful of the need to allocate its resources strategically and did not consider that further participation would be the most effective use of those resources in this instance. As a result, it elected not to seek leave to intervene before the Supreme Court of Canada.”
Kahnawà:ke had argued in earlier filings that Ontario’s plan to pool players internationally would be unlawful because the games would not be fully hosted within the province.
Ontario and its allies countered that as long as the Ontario side of the games was regulated locally, the model should be legal, a position the Ontario Court of Appeal ultimately supported.
The withdrawal now leaves other intervenors to carry the debate forward at the Supreme Court.
Alberta backing Ontario’s push for igaming liquidity, pushing to share pool
Alberta has since stepped into the Supreme Court case, adding its voice in support of Ontario’s plan to expand iGaming liquidity. The province was approved as an intervenor and filed its first submission on May 25.
In that filing, Attorney General Mickey Amery argued that the Criminal Code should not be read as blocking Ontario from linking peer‑to‑peer play with other jurisdictions, provided all sides agree to the arrangement.
The province’s gaming leadership has also spoken publicly about its stance. At the SBC Summit Canada in Toronto, Alberta iGaming Corporation CEO Dan Keene confirmed that Alberta and Ontario are aligned in wanting to share player pools “to whatever extent possible” ahead of their market launch later in July.
“We’re currently working on a memorandum of understanding with Ontario about interprovincial liquidity,” he said. “We’ll try and get that done as quickly as we can with our friends in Ontario. We are in favour of that … From a business and commercial perspective, it makes a lot of sense.”
His comments were similar to earlier statements from iGO’s Joseph Hillier and Alberta minister Dale Nally, both of whom stressed that cooperation between the provinces could strengthen the online gaming market.
Source: Canadian Gaming Business
