Welcome to the inaugural issue of Canadian Gaming Lawyer, the newest publication of the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL).

The International Masters of Gaming Law is a non-profit educational organization incorporated under the laws of Nevada. It is dedicated to raising the professionalism of the practice of gaming law on an international basis through the education and academics of gaming law.

Canadian Gaming Lawyer is the latest effort of the IMGL and is designed to reach all elements of the Canadian gaming industry that is playing a key role in the expansion of the Canadian economy. Canadian Gaming Lawyer will be published twice a year, with a spring and fall issue. It will focus on gaming law issues that are at the forefront of Canadian gaming and will address international gaming issues that affect the Canadian gaming market. In this regard, the IMGL solicits the input and suggestions of all elements of the Canadian gaming industry. Our goal is to make Canadian Gaming Lawyer a must read for professionals involved in the Canadian gaming industry.

What Is the IMGL?

In this, our first issue, I want to take a moment to familiarize you with the IMGL. The IMGL membership consists of private practice attorneys with extensive experience in gaming law (General Members), as well as in-house gaming business legal counsel, educators, regulators, accountants, gaming industry consultants and young lawyers entering the gaming industry (Affiliate Members). The IMGL has over 170 members in 30 countries including three of Canada's provinces, as well as members in 28 states and the District of Columbia within the United States. A noted 17 of the 24 worldwide private practice lawyers listed in Chambers Global Guide as "notable Band One gaming lawyers" are IMGL general members, In addition, eighty-five percent of the IMGL general members practicing in the United States are listed in the current edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

The IMGL's commitment to education in the gaming industry is extraordinary. The IMGL conducts two gaming educational conferences each year, typically one in North America and one in a non-North American jurisdiction. The IMGL's flagship publication, Casino Lawyer, is published four times a year and reaches well over 10,000 gaming professionals worldwide. The IMGL also publishes International Casino Law and Regulation Loose Leaf Service, sponsors the independently published Gaming Law Review and has partnered with a number of law schools that have gaming law courses to conduct educational conferences and symposiums. It also publishes law reviews that focus on state of the legal issues in the industry. The IMGL is the official sponsor of and provides speakers to a number of gaming conferences worldwide.

Many IMGL members have authored a variety of gaming law books, pamphlets, treatises and published gaming related articles in virtually every gaming-related trade publication. In other words, the IMGL and its members are committed to serve as leaders in the development of a substantive body of gaming law source materials for the gaming industry worldwide.

Upcoming IMGL Events

The IMGL 2008 Spring Conference is being held at the Villagio Inn & Spa in Yountville, California from May 21-23, 2008. Yountville is in the heart of fabulous Napa Valley. The conference will feature a day and a half of timely, comprehensive discussions of today's leading international gaming issues. In addition, the conference will host the presentation of the IMGL Gaming Executives of the Year awards. This year's recipients of this prestigious award are Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., President of the American Gaming Association, and Ernest L. Stevens Jr., Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association.

In September, the IMGL will host a one-day gaming law symposium at the Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. Leading gaming law scholars will present and discuss comprehensive papers dealing with a variety of gaming law issues. The papers will then be published and distributed to IMGL members, law schools and other interested parties.

The IMGL will be conducting its two-day fall gaming conference in Berlin, Germany from October 29-31, 2008. This conference is currently in the planning stages. Further details will soon be available on the IMGL website at www.gaminglawmasters.com.

Robert W. Stocker II, Dickinson Wright PLLC
Bob Stocker is current president of the IMGL & practises gaming law on an international basis.

Download Canadian Gaming Lawyer, May 2008

PDF format, 1.45MB, 32Pages.

Amendments Affecting Casinos
Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act
By Patricia Carnevale

Canada’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regime was first established in the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act. Given the changing face of global terrorism, the Act was adapted in 2001 to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA). The PCMLTFA requires financial institutions and financial intermediaries to comply with certain client identification, record-keeping, reporting and internal compliance measures. This includes reporting suspicious and large cash transactions to Canada’s financial intelligence unit, Financial Transactions Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC).

PCMLTFA amendment s under Bill C-25 received Royal Assent in December 2006. Some of those amendment s a re now in force, with others effective June 23, 2008, December 30, 2008 and September 28, 2 0 09. These amendment s propose to enhance the PCMLTFA by strengthening "know your client" standards, closing potential gaps in the regime, increasing compliance, monitoring and enforcement , and strengthening FINTRAC’s intelligence function. Administrative monetary penalties and the reporting of large cash disbursements are also introduced.

The following summarizes key amendments applicable to casinos and comments on the effectiveness of several of the changes. ...

Visit Canadian Gaming Lawyer, May 2008 Website

Message From the Editor:

As Editor of Canadian Gaming Lawyer, I am delighted to welcome you to our inaugural edition. The Canadian gaming industry is relatively young and did not exist 30 years ago. Today, it supports thousands of jobs throughout Canada and provides billions of dollars of revenue to our governments that is used for education, health and infrastructure. As the industry has grown, it has become apparent that our laws must develop to assist members of the sector and provide guidance to them whether in dealing with regulatory and integrity issues or day-to-day matters such as employee relations.

The Canadian Gaming Lawyer will be dedicated to this goal, or in a phrase, to advance gaming law through education. Interestingly, this commitment is shared by the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL), an organization of which I am proud to be a member, and which is a strong sponsor and supporter of this magazine.

As editor, I promise that we will strive to publish timely articles from a legal perspective. Topical issues involving the industry will be covered, assisting lawyers to better understand the components of the industry and enabling them to properly advise their gaming clients. Concurrently, we will reach out to members of the industry by publishing relevant and timely articles from a business perspective to enable them to gain greater insight into the issues faced on a daily basis.

In this first edition, we will review topics relating to compliance, employee relations, Internet gaming and tracking of financial transactions - to name a few. We will also visit with three winners of the Canadian Gaming Industry Awards sponsored by the Canadian Gaming Association and the IMGL. Our contributors include Patricia Carnevale who works with Bruce Caughill, Vice President Legal / Administration Falls Management Group, Kevin Weber, Chris Jonathan and Chad Finklestein who work closely with me in the Gaming Law section which I chair at Elkind & Lipton LLP, Danielle Bush who focuses on I-gaming law at Chitiz Pathak LLP, Larry Walters of Weston Garrou, Walters & Mooney, in Florida, Tony Coles of Jeffrey, Green & Russell in the UK and Bob Stocker of Michigan. Thank you for stalwart efforts in assisting me on this first edition.

Your views regarding our magazine are important. I am anxious to learn of them and urge you to email me with your comments. At the same time, I want to encourage all readers to contribute to future editions by writing an article and to join with me in supporting the magazine by placing an advertisement in it. Lastly, I want to thank Chuck Nervick of MediaEdge Communications Inc., our publisher, for all of his assistance.

We have high hopes and bold plans for the future. It will be an interesting journey as we go forward and I invite you to come along.

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