Kahnawake Mulls Land Casino in Quebec
The Kahnawake Mohawks - who operate a successful online gambling licensing jurisdiction - are contemplating building a new bricks and mortar casino in Quebec, it was reported in The Montreal Gazette.
The newspaper article reported that the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake recently hired a firm from the United States to conduct studies and surveys on the feasibility of creating a land casino which will be run by the South Shore community.
The report will examine the issues, with the first release of the studies expected this week.
The current proposal differs from two other previously rejected proposals to construct a Kahnawake casino in Quebec, in that it makes provisions for community members to share in the revenues from profits generated by the casino.
A casino could bring in between $20 and $30 million per year, according to Grand Council Chief, Michael Delisle Jr., who added that the territory was "looking at generating the type of funds that would make us independent somewhere in the near future."
He said that the move towards a new Kahnawake land casino was necessary considering that the governments at both federal and provincial levels were cutting funding.
Council Staff Examine Canada Gambling Options
Mohawk Council of Kahnawake staff have been busy working on an outline for the project, the Gazette reported, looking at gambling options in and around the region - as Quebec land casinos are very profitable - but not necessarily limited to native options. The Mohawks were also not ruling out gambling options in neighbouring Canadian provinces.
In a video presentation on the proposal, Grand Council Chief Delisle said that "the collective must be the primary benefit", stressing that all community members would get a piece of the profit pie. He could not, however, specify how much money each community member would earn.
This is not the first time that there has been a bid to introduce a Kahnawake controlled land casino in Canada.
The first proposal was introduced in 1994 and lost out by roughly 100 votes (627 for versus 724 against ), when members turned down a Las Vegas-style casino that would have cost $154 million to construct.
Nine years later, members turned down another casino with 57% voting against the idea.
The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory is a native reserve in Quebec with a total territory of 48 square kilometers. Its community numbers 8,000 people, with many living outside the territory.
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission offers gambling licenses to online poker, casino and sportsbook sites around the world and the profitable Mohawk Internet Technologies hosts and manages a number of online gambling websites.
