Prince Edward Island online gambling report nearing completion

The long-awaited review by the Port Edward Island Attorney General on the Canadian province’s abortive attempt to enter the online gambling regulatory sector through a local tribe (see previous reports) could be imminent.

The AG, Jane MacAdam, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation this week that work continues on the review, which was commissioned 18 months ago, but that it may be complete by the Fall.

In a significant change as to who will receive copies of the review it has reportedly been agreed with the clerk of the Legislative Assembly that the findings will be tabled by the Speaker in parliament rather than submitted first to the provincial cabinet and to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, which tasked the AG with the enquiry.

That means the findings, the release of which would have been up to either cabinet or the committee, will now be immediately available to MPs and the public once tabled.

A member of the clerk’s office explained that even if the House isn’t sitting, copies will be made available to MLAs and to the public.

Our readers may recall that back in December 2011 the provincial PEI government decided to enter the lucrative online gambling regulatory sector through a partnership with the local Mi’kmaq Confederacy tribe, lending the Confederacy Cdn$950,000 to finance the project on the understanding that the money was to be paid back from the e-gaming revenues that would be generated.

The project failed, and the Confederacy argues that because no revenue was created, there is no obligation to return the money, which has in any case already been spent on the venture.

The province’s nightmare did not end there, in April last year a company involved in the project with the Confederacy, Capital Markets Technologies, took the PEI government to court, claiming $25 million. The case was dismissed by the P.E.I. Supreme Court, but CMT has said it will refile.

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