Canadian MP Considers I-gaming Legislation

7 March 2008

A member of Canada's Parliament, Hon. Roy Cullen, has written a bill that would require financial institutions to block transactions for unauthorized Internet gambling, but he has not yet tabled the bill in the House of Commons.

"My bill is closely modeled off legislation in the U.S., except that it doesn't distinguish between offshore and onshore gambling," Cullen told Interactive Gaming News.

He has put a question in to the House of Commons inquiring what the government intends to do about illegal Internet gambling, and he is working with Canada's Justice Minister to find a suitable solution. He hopes the Justice Department will take the issue seriously and come up with a plan of its own.

Cullen said he will wait a few weeks, and if he gets nowhere with the government he will table his own legislation as a private members bill.

In Canada, private member's bills are significantly more difficult to pass than government legislation.