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The Kahnawake
Just outside of Montreal there is the First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawake.
The Kahnawake is an autonomous self-governing nation which has a tough but fair reputation.
The Mohawks are renowned for their no fear of heights and were in demand as iron workers on high structures.
in 1990, there was a famous incident called the Oka crisis. which was fundamentally a land dispute. In protest against plans to expand a golf course, the Mohawks shut down an important bridge (among other things). They caused huge disruption. Ultimately, the government developed a First Nations Policing Policy and has left them alone ever since.
Meanwhile, the Kahnawake capitalized on their location, by deciding to build a world-class data center plum in the middle of their territory.
The data center location was excellent as they had plentiful supplies of electricity. In addition, the main telecommunications cables between Montreal and New York ran close by. This gave them straightforward access to serious bandwidth.
Originally, the data center was intended to host financial service companies. However, after an intriguing introduction to an industry pioneer from Antigua (not sure who that was), the success of the Caribbean based online gambling industry was brought to their attention.
The KGC then developed the regulations concerning Interactive gaming with highly respected lawyers. These were enacted 8th July 1999.
Operators were attracted by the technology employed by the data center, as well as the stability of the regulations. Mohawk Internet Technologies (which was the company owned by the Kahnawake that ran the data center) would go on to host 400+ operators, which between them would account for 60% of the world’s internet online gambling traffic.
One of most famous licensees was the legendary Golden Palace. Online in 1997, running Microgaming software and hosted in Antigua, Golden Palace would relocate to the Kahnawake in the early 2000’s and later on to Curaçao.
Golden Palace was the world’s best known online casino brand at the time. This was due to their marketing and promotional stunts which were designed to grab headlines.
If you ask anyone from those times, they will remember Golden Palace for tattooing boxers and others with their logo, as well as buying crazy items at auctions such as a grilled cheese sandwich with The Virgin Mary’s image toasted onto its surface. They also sponsored streakers at sporting events, including the 2004 Superbowl.
Golden Palace was also known for their extravagant parties. I’m still trying to recollect anything about them.
Golden Palace would change its software provider to Playtech following some negative press regarding bonus abusers.
Golden Palace would face significant legal challenges and regulatory changes. The UIGEA of 2006 caused loss of US players and Golden Palace went into a slow decline. Ultimately, its activity as a global online casino largely ceased.
