Supreme Court of Canada Dismisses Appeal of Online Lottery Case

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recently dismissed the appeal of the Earth Fund Lottery case and upheld the decision of the Prince Edward Island ("P.E.I.") Court of Appeal. The P.E.I. government had originally provided the Earth Fund Internet Lottery with a license to operate a lottery over the Internet. This decision met with protests from other provincial lottery administrators who were worried about Internet based lotteries drawing away their customers. As a result of these protests, the P.E.I. government asked the court to determine the legality of the lottery. In its decision, the P.E.I. Court of Appeal found that for the lottery license to be validly issued, the lottery scheme had to be conducted and managed in the province and not just from the province, which the Court interpreted as meaning all participants of the lottery had to be residents of P.E.I. As such, the Court of Appeal held that the Criminal Code prohibited Internet lotteries directed or made available to players outside the province that issued the license. Based on this finding, the Court of Appeal came to the conclusion that the P.E.I. government did not have the authority to issue a license for an extra-provincial or international lottery such as the one in question. The SCC agreed. For a copy of the SCC decision, visit: http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/en/rec/html/earthfut.en.html For a copy of the P.E.I. Court of Appeal's decision, visit: http://www.gov.pe.ca/courts/supreme/reasons/923.pdf