Kahnawake: what it covers and what it means for players

For players in Great BritainUnder the Gambling Act 2005, section 33 makes it an offence to provide facilities for gambling without a Gambling Commission operating licence. Since the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014, section 36(3) and (3A) apply this to remote gambling facilities used in Great Britain even where none of the operator's equipment is in Great Britain, if the operator knows or should know they are being used here. A KGC permit is not a Gambling Commission licence, so a KGC-licensed site may lawfully offer gambling to people in Great Britain only if the operator also holds the relevant GC remote operating licence. The KGC's own permit-holder list notes that not every licensed URL is available in every jurisdiction. Advertising unlicensed gambling to people in Great Britain can also be an offence under section 330. How to check a site.

Licence types

Interactive Gaming Licence (IGL): only one may exist at a time, issued to the approved hosting facility in Kahnawà:ke; held since 1999 by Mohawk Internet Technologies
Client Provider Authorization (CPA): issued to operators offering interactive gaming (casino, poker and/or sportsbook) from the hosting facility; no cap on numbers
Key Person Licence/Permit (KPL): for individuals performing managerial or operational functions for a CPA or CSPA holder
Casino Software Provider Authorization (CSPA): B2B; may license casino software to third-party operators but may not offer games directly to players
Live Dealer Studio Authorization (LDSA): to run a live dealer studio within Kahnawà:ke

What players get

Minimum age is the greater of 18 or the legal gambling age where the player lives ('approved age', Regulations s.9)
Licensed sites must let players set daily, weekly or monthly deposit limits, including a limit of zero (Regulations Part XXVI)
Comprehensive Self-Exclusion Request lodged with the Commission excludes a player from every KGC-licensed site; it is permanent and irrevocable, and money deposited or won in breach is forfeited (Players page)
Operators must keep player balances separately identifiable and covered by liquid funds at all times (Regulations s.253)
Operators must pay out to a verified player as soon as practicable after a withdrawal request (Regulations s.252)
Complaints: operator must give a final decision within 45 days; the player may then go to the KGC, which may direct the operator to take steps to resolve the complaint (Part XXIV as amended 25 March 2026); complaints must reach the KGC between 7 days and 6 months after the issue arose
Operators are told to conform to the laws, including advertising laws, of 'comparable jurisdictions' (Regulations s.6)
The KGC publishes annual dispute-resolution and self-exclusion statistics

How to check a licence

Licensed sites must display the KGC logo linked to a 'Certificate of Good Standing' generated from the Commission's own database (Logo Certificate Program, in place since 15 January 2010). Click the logo and check the certificate is served from gamingcommission.ca, then cross-check the operator and URL against the Permit Holders list at gamingcommission.ca/interactive-gaming/permit-holders/. The KGC also publishes notices naming sites that falsely claim to be KGC-licensed, and in 2025 and 2026 warned that copycat websites were impersonating the Commission itself.

Recent changes

2024-05-08: Amendment approved letting the Commission dismiss a complaint that contains abusive or objectionable communication (s.278), after community consultation opened 13 March 2024.
2025-04-22: New fee structure for licensed domains: the USD 20,000 annual CPA fee covers up to six domains, with USD 500 a year for each additional domain.
2025-11-26: Fraud alert issued about a website impersonating the KGC and claiming to sell licences; a second impersonation notice followed in June 2026.
2026-01-14: Amendments approved after October/November 2025 consultation, including sending forfeited under-age prizes and winnings from deposits made in breach of self-limits or self-exclusion to the Commission for local non-profit 'Eligible Organizations', and updated fee schedules.
2026-03-25: Complaints and dispute resolution rules (Part XXIV) rewritten: a 45-day deadline for an operator's final decision, a defined 7-day to 6-month window for going to the KGC, and power for Approved Agents to handle disputes for the Commission.
2026-06: Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Six Nations Gaming Commission (Ontario).
2026-08-13: Notice that CPA application fees rise from USD 35,000 to USD 40,000 and Key Person Permit fees from USD 5,000 to USD 6,000 for applications made on or after 1 January 2027; the five-year renewal fee for a CPA becomes USD 40,000 including the annual fee.

Context

The KGC states that its authority comes from the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke's asserted sovereignty over their territory, and that a 2007 decision of the Superior Court of Québec considered that authority favourably (KGC FAQ).

Under Canada's Criminal Code s.207(1)(a), it is the government of a province that may lawfully conduct and manage a lottery scheme in that province; the KGC's FAQ refers to the 1985 federal-provincial agreement on gaming. The relationship between the two positions is not settled in any source reviewed here.

The KGC has signed memoranda of understanding or information-sharing arrangements with regulators including Malta (2006), Alderney (2010), New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement (2014) and Jersey (2015) (KGC FAQ).

The KGC regularly publishes suspensions and revocations of Client Provider Authorizations and warnings about sites falsely claiming its licence.

Not yet verified

The 2007 Superior Court of Québec decision is cited only as described by the KGC; the judgment itself was not reviewed.
The KGC permit-holders page says 'four types of licences' but then lists five (IGL, CPA, KPL, CSPA, LDSA); the homepage says five. Five are listed here.
The KGC's Regulations contain no explicit rule found telling licensees to refuse players from countries where online gambling is prohibited; s.6 (conform to laws of 'comparable jurisdictions') is the closest provision. A full read of every schedule was not done.
Whether any Canadian court or government has ruled on the legality of KGC-licensed online gambling offered to players in Québec or other provinces was not verified.

We could not confirm these from a primary source, so we have not stated them as fact.