Part 1 of our series on online casino license destinations looked at the island nations of Antigua and Vanuatu. This week, the focus shifts to two casino licensing operations that have ties to first world nations: the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and the Channel Island of Alderney.
WINNERonline readers will be familiar with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC). We profiled the commission in the article Where the Heck is Kahnawake, but there have been some recent developments that are worth noting.
The KGC operates on the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve located just outside of Montreal, Quebec. Technically, the reserve is located within Canada, but Mohawks consider the reserve to be sovereign territory.
Semantics aside, the commission offers online casino and sportsbook licenses to interested parties. There are currently 19 licensees - up from 14 a few months ago - and that number is growing steadily. One big name that recently obtained a casino license in Kahnawake is Aspinalls.com.
Kahnawake licenses are relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things, costing about one fifth of what they do in Antigua, and that has undoubtedly attracted casino operators.
It hasn't all been roses for the KGC, however. The commission has drawn the attention of the provincial and federal governments, and the Quebec provincial police are currently investigating the legality of casino operations on the reserve. The police are expected to make recommendations to the province's attorney general in the relatively near future.
Another little oddity in the world of online gambling licenses is the islands around the United Kingdom. Many of these islands are self-governing regions that function autonomously from the English parliament, but still maintain close social, cultural, and economic ties with the U.K.
The Isle of Man has taken the lead in this growth sector and is currently in the process of awarding online casino licenses. But it isn't the only island in the region to be doing that.
The island of Alderney, which is part of the Channel Islands located off the coast of France, is also fighting for its own share of the casino licensing pie.
The government of Alderney has permitted sportsbooks to operate on the island since 1997, but it made a move to regulate the industry last year when it created the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC). The commission's job has been to regulate and supervise the sportsbooks to ensure they were operating to the highest international standards.
That mission changed somewhat when the government of Alderney passed the Interactive Gaming Ordinance in July 2001. The ordinance allowed the commission to officially offer gaming licenses to online casino operations. Since that time, six, three-year casino licenses have been issued at a cost £75,000 (about US$110,000) per year.
Like Kahnawake, Alderney has the telecommunications and e-commerce infrastructure to support online casinos. More importantly, the AGCC has the government's support and that will undoubtedly go a long way towards attracting gaming companies looking to move out of the Caribbean.
Stay tuned for part 3 in our series on online casino license destinations. Until then, go to GamblingLicenses.com for more information on casino licenses and licensing bodies.
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