Canada to Introduce Amendments Aimed at Cleaning up the Nation’s Online Wagering Industry

Online gambling casinos in Canada are in anticipation of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s announcement last Tuesday, about the Conservative government’s plan to impose tighter gambling laws that would clean up the country’s online betting industry. Such initiatives reportedly include subjecting online casinos to the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act (PCTFA), particularly those dealing with Bitcoins as acceptable form of currency.

Although the details are yet to be furnished, the gist is that the new laws to be proposed, would strengthen Canada’s nationwide vigilance over perpetrators of money-laundering and terrorist-financing activities. However, the matter of imposing PCTFA on online casinos denotes involving the government’s financial watchdog, FINTRAC or the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre.

The Tories are accordingly interested in making online casinos PCFTA-compliant, by requiring Internet-based facilities to submit reportorial mandates pertaining to identity verification and financial transactions deemed as suspicious under the PCFTA.

It is still unclear if the laws will apply only to online betting facilities run by provincial lottery corporations authorized by the governments of British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario. However, as there are ongoing moves by the provincial lottery corporations to bring down competition coming from offshore gambling firms that extend online services and facilities to Canadian players, there is a likely possibility that the new laws will apply to all.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s announcement of the proposed legislative amendments, came around as part of his speech in presenting Canada’s 2014 Budget at the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce.