It is up and it is running.
The province’s first online casino opened this morning.
It is being run out of an office on the Whitebear First Nation in southeast Sasktchewan.
The former chief of the reserve, Bernie Shepherd, is behind the new Northern Bear Casino. He says he will fight any government attempts to shut him down.
Shepherd maintains he has the right to set up the online casino — and that it is not under provincial jurisdiction.
This is the same argument he made in 1993, when he opened the Bearclaw Casino on the reserve. He was later charged and the casino was shut down — but the charges were eventually dropped, and the battle led to the establishment of a gaming agreement between the province and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.
Shepherd says he expects to do the same thing with online gaming:
“But I believe — and still continue to believe — that, as First Nations, we also have our own lawmaking ability and capacity.”
Shepherd says a lot of people, including FSIN officials, are watching with interest. He says he has been getting a lot of moral support:
“I have been receiving calls from all over the place — not just the FSIN. I’ve been getting calls from across Canada.”
Yesterday, the province’s minister responsible for gaming, Donna Harpauer, said an online casino would likely be illegal in Saskatchewan — but she says the government will monitor the situation before deciding its next move.