Poker With Canadian Credit Card

Law can often become quite a tricky subject, especially when it comes to rules and regulations that fall into a grey area. Every country has them; in Thailand, for example, it is illegal to leave your home if you’re not wearing any underwear. In Switzerland, it is against the law to flush a toilet after 10 PM. In Canada, it is illegal to use dice to play craps…yet there are over 100 casinos throughout the region that offer craps tables as one of the premiere games.

The Woes of Canada’s Gambling Laws

Canadian residents are probably used to this type of double standard though, because the laws often seem to contradict themselves. Several provinces throughout the country operate full gaming casinos that are regulated by the government, and the actual law states that these types of establishments and lotteries are legal as long as they are sanctioned. People operating an unsanctioned gambling establishment, no matter how big or small, are in violation of the law and they can be arrested for operating an illegal gaming house.

It is also against the law for Canadian citizens to be found inside an unsanctioned gambling establishment, and the way that that law is written it really doesn’t matter if you’re placing bets, serving drinks, or just stopped by to borrow a cup of sugar. Even though this is not widely enforced and you’ll find several casual poker tournaments at people’s residences throughout Canada, it is most definitely a crime for anyone involved.

Laws Concerning Canadian Credit Card Poker Sites

The legislation on online gambling is even trickier because there’s not a single word written about it anywhere. There are several online casinos on the web that are based out of Canada and from what we can find they are not breaking any laws. Each of them pay taxes, state where their income was generated from, and the government seems to fully accept their presence even though they are not being regulated by a Canadian office (the vast majority of the world’s online casinos are regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which is ironically located in Quebec, Canada).

There’s a kicker though…the online casinos that are based out of Canada generally do not accept Canadian players. Now, there’s not a single law that outlaws any type of online gaming for residents, but at the same time betters would also be in violation of being inside a non-regulated gaming establishment under Canadian law. It is estimated that millions of Canadians place online wagers anyway and there has never been a single arrest for this type of activity…but it definitely falls into a grey area of the law.

The Kahnawake Wild Card

Of course, you also have to consider that the Kahnawake Gaming Commission is established on tribal land…which is technically a sovereign nation all in its own even though they have a Quebec address. That means that they do not pay taxes to any form of government besides their own, which really has the Canadian government angry. At the same time, Canada has no legal jurisdiction over Kahnawake so they can not attack them directly through the court system, which is why Canadian players get the brunt of the punishment.

Canada Credit Card Deposits in Online Poker Rooms

For now, banking transactions to and from any online casino inside Canada is blocked, which is why we are talking about Canadian credit card poker sites. Since almost all credit card transactions happen through servers outside of Canada, the legislation is easily bypassed so that gambler still has the option of placing online wagers. Now, it is pretty obvious that the government does not like this turn of events a single bit but they also knew that it would happen.

Their legislation was based on a similar law inside the United States which also proved impossible to regulate; there are just too many ways for online casinos to bypass credit card restrictions. To truly enforce a law of this caliber, it would cost the Canadian government and the financial industry millions of dollars per year yet they would see a single penny of income from it; they know that it makes little sense to pursue the matter further.

Third Party Credit Card Processing Sites

Even when a credit card gets denied at an online casino, there are hundreds of third party websites out there that can process payments on behalf of Canadian citizens. Online poker rooms like Sportsbook Poker, Players Only, Ultimate Bet, and Absolute Poker all guide players to these websites in order to expedite the deposit process, and when players win the transaction is simply reversed. Since these types of money processing centers are located outside of Canada there is absolutely nothing that the government can do about it either…unless they want to start arresting Canadian citizens for playing online poker from the privacy of their homes.

For now, gambling on the internet in Canada has to be considered legal by the government; why else would they go to such trouble to block the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and the regional banks? Authorities are now discussing a way to force Kahnawake to adhere to Canadian authority and allow them to regulate each of the online casinos that is regulated by the tribe, but experts say that it will probably never happen. The tribal leaders were smart enough to capitalize on an eight billion dollar industry and to convince almost 80% of the worlds online casinos to be mandated by them; there’s no way that they’ll let Canada get in on the profits just because they ask politely.

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