Indigenous Gaming Issues In Canada

The current division of jurisdiction over gaming in Canada came about as a result of a Federal-Provincial Agreement that was entered into in 1985, intended to address differences that had arisen between those governments since the introduction of a liberalized regime for gaming and betting in 1967. The legacy of this 1985 Federal-Provincial Agreement is that the Canadian Criminal Code provides that only provincial governments have the full authority to govern ("conduct and manage") gaming in Canada. Charitable and religious organizations can also conduct and manage gaming, but the right of any charitable or religious entity to do so exists at the whim of the provincial governments.