From time to time over the last few years there has been talk - mostly from individual provinces - of Canada curbing online gambling activity.  The concern is highlighted by the fact that more online gambling establishments operate from the country than any other thanks to the licensing business of the Kahnawake Indians outside of Montreal, Quebec.

April Robinson of the Ontario Record reports that with online gamblers four times as likely to become problem gamblers, Canada needs to solidify laws

This is according to a leading researcher into online gambling activity.

"I think the federal government needs to take the bull by the horns and make it clear in legislation that gambling is either prohibited or it's legal --but they need to get rid of the uncertainty," said Robert Williams, a gambling researcher from the University of Lethbridge in Alberta.

Williams was in Waterloo speaking to members of the Waterloo Region Action Group on Gambling Issues and others in the community.

University and college-educated men in their 20s are gambling more than anyone, Williams said.

And Williams echoes the sentiment of others involved with Canadian government apparently.

The federal government of Quebec in May said it was considering new measures to stamp out Internet gaming sites based on a native reserve in Quebec, in a move that could spark conflict between Ottawa and Canada's First Nations ahead of a second national "day of action" this summer.

The government deems the 400 or so poker and sports-betting sites operating from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal to be illegal, but neither federal not provincial governments have attempted to enforce the law. Now Ottawa is reviewing that position.

"Following recent concerns surrounding Internet gambling in Canada, the Minister of Justice [Rob Nicholson] has asked his officials to examine whether the enforcement of the Criminal Code provisions could be assisted with other measures," said Genevieve Breton, Mr. Nicholson's director of communications.

The "other measures" are understood to be moves to restrict banks and credit card companies from conducting financial transactions with illegal Internet operators. Similar legislation was enacted in the United States two years ago.

Chuck Barnett, who is a member of the board of supervisors for Mohawk Internet Technologies, a utility company that provides connectivity services for the site owners at Kahnawake, sees Ottawa as a foreign government that has no business regulating activity on Mohawk territory. "However, if I were a Canadian, I might instead be more interested in how explicit legislation could serve as the catalyst for a potential source of economic development, employment and revenue through taxation," he said.

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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher CCostigan@CostiganMedia.com

Originally published June 19, 2008 10:01 am EST.