How to get a gambling licence in Kahnawà:ke: fees and steps

The operator’s authorisation is the Client Provider Authorization (CPA). It sits on top of a single hosting licence that one company holds, and one CPA covers every type of interactive gaming.

• The Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission (KGC) issues every authorisation itself. It may appoint Approved Agents to investigate applicants and review control systems, but the Commission decides. It bases its authority on Kahnawà:ke’s claim of sovereignty over its Territory.
• The Client Provider Authorization is the one B2C authorisation. It must be appended to the Interactive Gaming Licence and is valid only while that licence is in good standing. It covers casino, poker and sportsbook together, with no fee per product, and a CPA lists every brand and domain the holder operates.
• The Interactive Gaming Licence (IGL) is the hosting licence. Only one is ever issued at a time, and Mohawk Internet Technologies has held it since 1999. You do not apply for it; you are hosted under it.
• The B2B authorisations are the Casino Software Provider Authorization (CSPA) for suppliers that locate equipment at the hosting facility and license casino software to operators, and the Live Dealer Studio Authorization for a studio in the Territory. A Key Person Permit is required for every person who performs a key managerial or operational function.
• The Commission’s register prints 53 Client Provider Authorization holder names, with no status column, two CSPA holders (VSTechnology Limited and Relax Gaming International Limited) and the one IGL holder. No Live Dealer Studio holder is printed.

Laws that apply

• Kahnawà:ke Gaming Law (MCR No. 26/1996-97, 10 June 1996), not published on the Commission’s or the Council’s website
• Regulations concerning Interactive Gaming (KGC), last amended 25 March 2026
• Regulations concerning Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (KGC), 30 June 2021
• Criminal Code (federal), Part VII, ss. 197 to 209

The authorisation lets an operator serve players inside and outside the Territory, but it is not a licence any market is shown to recognise.

• The Regulations apply to interactive gaming based in and offered from the Territory, including to players outside it. The control system questionnaire asks which countries the operator will and will not accept players from.
• The approved age is the greater of 18 and the age required to take part in a game of chance where the player lives. The operator must take all reasonable and available measures to keep anyone under that age from playing.
• The operator, not the Commission, answers for the laws of comparable jurisdictions, expressly including their advertising laws. The Commission does not decide advertising rules in the countries where players live.
• No province or other market is shown to accept the KGC authorisation as its own licence. Going the other way, a licence held in a comparable jurisdiction counts only as prima facie evidence of suitability when you apply to the KGC; it is not a substitute for the KGC’s review.
• A third-party operator that licenses software from a CSPA holder, and holds no CPA of its own, must not display the Commission’s logo or refer to the Commission or Kahnawà:ke, and the Commission does not handle its complaints.

There is no nationality, seat or minimum-capital test. The Commission judges the company and the people behind it, and it can refuse even a complete application.

• Any business entity may apply, from any country. No Kahnawà:ke company, local office, local bank account or local director is required. What must be in the Territory is the hosting: the operator’s gaming equipment at the IGL holder’s co-location facility.
• Each director, each shareholder with 10% or more and each key person must be a suitable person and file a Personal Information Form. For individuals the Commission looks at character, honesty, associations, criminal convictions, credit history and references.
• The applicant needs appropriate resources: financial resources the Commission considers adequate, from a source that is not contrary to the Regulations or to law in the Territory. No fixed share capital is set. Security for operations, including obligations to players, is set case by case; no amount is published.
• An entity formed in the last twelve months, or not yet operating, files financial projections for three fiscal years. Other entities file certified audited statements for five years.
• The Commission may deny any application even if the requirements are met, including where an authorisation could adversely affect Kahnawà:ke’s jurisdictional integrity or reputation.

Everything the Commission charges is a fixed fee in US dollars. Nothing is based on stakes, turnover or revenue.

• The CPA application fee includes the Commission’s due diligence (non-refundable) and the first annual fee (refundable if the application is not granted), so there is no separate issuance fee. It excludes the Commission’s cost of assessing the control system submission, which is invoiced.
• Fees rise for complete applications received on or after 1 January 2027. A complete application submitted earlier stays on the old schedule even if it is decided in 2027.
• Each CPA includes up to six domains. Each domain beyond the sixth costs US$500 a year, not prorated, due on the CPA anniversary.
• Late fees carry 10% a year, payments in a currency other than US dollars carry a 5% administration fee, and a breach of the Regulations may be fined US$1,000 to US$20,000 for each instance.

The Commission charges licensing fees, not a tax. Federal income tax and GST sit outside its texts.

• No gambling tax, rate, base or revenue share is imposed by the Regulations, and the Kahnawà:ke Gaming Law is not published on the Commission’s or the Council’s website, so no published text shows whether it sets a levy. The Commission is the body to confirm with.
• Federal: the Canada Revenue Agency states the basic rate of Part I corporate tax is 38% of taxable income, 28% after the federal abatement and 15% net after the general tax reduction. Whether a given CPA holder is taxable depends on its own residence and permanent establishment. Section 87 of the Indian Act speaks of an Indian or a band, and no Commission text says a licensee corporation is covered.
• Federal: GST is 5% on a taxable supply made in Canada. The federal Games of Chance regulations prescribe only provincial and interprovincial lottery and gaming bodies, and a KGC authorisation holder is not among them. Whether an online supply to a player is taxable, zero-rated or exempt is a federal question.

The platform runs in the Territory and must be approved as a control system. Player-protection duties are set in the Regulations, with the Commission itself as the complaints body.

• Hosting is mandatory in the Territory: the CPA holder conducts interactive gaming from the IGL holder’s co-location facility and installs there the equipment the Commission deems necessary for regulatory control. Cloud hosting is not addressed, and no class exists for a hosting provider elsewhere. No Kahnawà:ke or .ca domain is required, but every domain must be listed on the CPA.
• A game may be conducted only on a control system the Commission has approved, assessed against six technical standards. The standards are not published on the Commission’s site and can be requested with the application. No per-game approval list exists, and a foreign laboratory certificate is evidence you supply, not a substitute for the Commission’s approval.
• The Commission works through Approved Agents, including laboratories such as iTech Labs, Quinel, Asensi Technologies, RNG Labs, Gaming Associates Europe and eCOGRA. The list is not stated to be complete.
• Players register with name, residential address, date of birth and contact details, with one account per website. Identity may be verified after a first deposit where risk is managed and it is essential not to interrupt business, but before any payment to the player and within 30 days. Cash is prohibited, and cryptocurrency needs the Commission’s approval as another method.
• No geolocation control is required. A provider must make all reasonable efforts to stop marketing to a player who asks to be excluded or is under a comprehensive self-exclusion directive.
• A provider must have its own complaints process, with a final decision within 45 days. A player may then go to the Commission, which is the dispute body and can direct the provider to resolve a complaint, including remitting disputed funds in a withdrawal dispute.
• Advertising must not be indecent or offensive, must be based on fact and must not be false, deceptive or misleading in a material way. No pre-approval of advertisements is required, and the Commission acts by written direction after the fact.

The Commission can suspend, revoke or fine, and its decisions on authorisations are stated to be final.

• A new director, a new shareholder holding 10% or more, or a change of key person is a material change, reported at least 30 days ahead where possible and within 7 days after at the latest. A change to the platform needs the Commission’s approval, on a submission made at least 90 days before use.
• Every holder is in a continuous compliance programme. The Commission may order an external audit of accounts. The AML-CFT Regulations make each CPA holder a reporting entity to the Commission, with a suspicious matter report due within 5 business days (24 hours for terrorist financing).
• Five-year renewal must be applied for at least three months before expiry. Fees fall due on each anniversary.
• The Commission has revoked and suspended Client Provider Authorizations by public notice, and it also publishes notices naming sites that falsely claim its regulation.
• Decisions about authorisations are stated to be final and conclusive and cannot be appealed or reviewed. A holder facing suspension or revocation may request a hearing before the Commission itself. Whether that no-appeal clause would hold in a Canadian court is untested in any decision found.

The route to a live Kahnawà:ke operation. There is no window or deadline for interactive applications, so the order below is the order of the work.

1. 01

   Assemble the application pack

   Regulations s. 35

   Schedule D application listing brands and URLs, Schedule B business entity information, a Schedule C personal information form for each director, 10% shareholder and key person, a Schedule E permit application for each key person, and the control system submission (Schedule I). Add a criminal-record consent, and three years of annual reports and director biographies if publicly traded.

2. 02

   File with the Commission and pay the fees

   Schedule D, instruction 8

   Send it sealed and marked Private and Confidential to the Commission’s post box in the Territory, or electronically on the newer business entity form. Nothing is processed until all fees are received: US$35,000 for the CPA plus US$5,000 for each proposed key person, or US$40,000 plus US$6,000 for a complete application received from 1 January 2027.

3. 03

   Due diligence and the decision

   About 4 to 8 weeks

   A compliance officer reviews the pack for completeness, due diligence takes an estimated 4 to 6 weeks, and the decision comes at the next Commission meeting. The Regulations set no statutory deadline. Reasons for a refusal are given in writing; there is no appeal.

4. 04

   Run the preliminary six-month term

   Regulations ss. 38, 42 to 45

   A granted CPA starts as a preliminary permit for 6 months, with the Commission’s logo, a Certificate of Good Standing code and the self-exclusion list. An Approved Agent audits the control system in this term, and return-to-player testing starts once the full CPA is issued.

5. 05

   Install at the hosting facility and go live

   Regulations ss. 34, 36(e)

   Equipment is installed at the IGL holder’s facility in the Territory and every domain is listed on the CPA. Display the Commission’s logo, linked to the Certificate of Good Standing, on each licensed site.

6. 06

   Renew for up to five years

   Regulations ss. 43, 166 to 169

   After the review the Commission renews for up to five years, declines or extends once by three months. The next renewal application must reach the Commission at least three months before expiry.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 10 Nov 2026.