by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Mar 8, 2012 | Updated on Mar 8, 2012Over the past year we have seen a lot of turbulent times in the online poker industry. For the tough times we primarily have the US government to thank and now some of the top online poker rooms a year ago no longer exist. With all of that happening in the US, many have wondered why Canada has not also taken similar action with their government.The reason we say this is because according to Canadian law, only individual provinces are allowed to own and operate the poker/gambling games that are offered to their citizens. As well all know though, the most popular sites that are being played on are operated off of Canadian soil and in foreign nations. This leads one to think that maybe the law is being broken by millions of people all the time.Another big reason some people urge the government to crack down on online poker is because Canadians pump an estimated $4 billion into the industry each and every year. That $4 billion could be used and taxed by the Canadian government in order to help social programs and other government entities. There has been no real word as to whether Canada would start cracking down or not, but it is a fact that the only state-run poker sites that exist currently have a severe traffic deficiency ,especially when compared to the biggest offshore sites that offer their services to Canadians.Poker is big in Canada, and I think their government understands that while they may not be able to take over the industry and have it serve them infinite profits, it is still a big positive part of the livelihood of many citizens, and maybe that fact alone is enough to keep the government’s nose out of it. Only time will tell though, maybe we will see another Black Friday in Canada.
