Kahnawake and Tobique licences: how to check one

Kahnawake and Tobique are both First Nations in Canada, and each runs a gaming commission that licenses online casinos. To check either licence, you need the company named in the casino's terms. Kahnawake's list shows companies and their websites, and its logo should open a certificate. Tobique's list shows companies, expiry dates and licence types but no websites, so the validation page behind the casino's seal is the check that ties a site to a company.01030810

We read both commissions' public pages, rules and lists on 23 October 2026, and compared their lists with Anjouan's licence register and the 76 operators BullsRank tracks. BullsRank isn't a law firm and this isn't legal advice. Our regulators hub shows which regulator stands behind each licence on our operator profiles.010815

Two commissions, two kinds of record

The Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission, as it spells its name, regulates online gambling from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawà:ke, near Montréal. It enacted its Regulations concerning Interactive Gaming on 8 July 1999 and last amended them on 25 March 2026. The Tobique Gaming Commission works under the Tobique Gaming Act 2023, which cites the Tobique First Nation's "inherent right to self-government". The community is in New Brunswick.02051314

Their records answer different questions:

Kahnawake: what the permit list shows

The Commission says its list shows "Operators and their URLs" that it has certified. A company that offers games to players holds a Client Provider Authorization, which lets it run casino, poker or sports betting from the licensed hosting facility in Kahnawà:ke. The Commission's site says those operators "must be hosted at Mohawk Internet Technologies", a data centre in the territory managed by Continent 8 Technologies.0102

On 23 October 2026 the list had 221 rows under 53 company names, plus two holders of software authorisations, VSTechnology Limited and Relax Gaming International Limited. Thirty-nine companies had at least one website next to their name, 207 addresses in all. Fourteen had none.01

Three things about the list are worth knowing before you rely on it:0107

• The date at the top is old. It reads "Updated September 28, 2023". The list has still changed since then: Cartwheel B.V., whose authorisation the Commission says ended at its own request in July 2026, isn't on it.

• It doesn't show suspensions. The Commission announced on 6 October 2026 that Polar Ventures SDRL's authorisation "was suspended effective September 29, 2026". On 23 October Polar Ventures SDRL was still in the list, with no website and no note.

• It prints neither licence numbers nor per-entry dates. The page also warns that "not all URLs are accessible in all jurisdictions". The list doesn't tell you whether a site may take players where you live.

The second check is the logo. The Commission's logo, official since 15 January 2010, is linked to its Logo Certification Program: clicking it on a licensed site should generate a "Certificate of Good Standing" drawn from its database at that moment. The Regulations require licensees to display the logo "prominently" and link it to that certificate. We couldn't open one: the Kahnawake-listed casinos we tried returned 403 errors from our location.0305

Complaining to Kahnawake

Kahnawake takes player complaints itself rather than sending them to an outside dispute service, though its Regulations let it use approved agents for all or part of the process. The steps are set out in Part XXIV of the Regulations, as amended in March 2026:05

1. Complain to the casino first. It has 45 days from receiving your complaint to issue a final decision.

2. Then go to the Commission if you're unhappy with that decision or get none in 45 days. You can, the Regulations say, "notwithstanding any provision of" the casino's terms. Send it in writing to complaints@gamingcommission.ca or use the form on the Commission's site; it doesn't take complaints by phone.

3. Mind the six months. A complaint must reach the Commission within six months of when the problem first arose. If you complained to the casino inside that window, you can still go to the Commission after it runs out.

4. The casino has seven days to give the Commission "a full and detailed written response", unless the Commission sets another time.

At its discretion, the Commission can take a complaint early, without the 45-day stage. The cases it names include underage gambling; problem gambling, responsible gaming or self-exclusion; and "alleged fraud or seizure of player funds". At the end it can dismiss the complaint, uphold it in whole or in part, or direct the casino to take steps to resolve it.05

Withdrawals refused on suspicion of fraud get their own procedure. The casino must back up its allegation, and the Commission "may, in its sole discretion, not reveal this information to the player". If it isn't satisfied the fraud is substantiated, it will direct the casino to pay the disputed funds to the player, in whole or in part.05

Two warnings on the Commission's complaints page are unusual. It says it may be unable to help if your complaint "has been discussed on any public forum" or if you "share information with the media", and that "an investigation may be discontinued or a complaint may be invalidated". If you're thinking of posting about your case, read that first.04

What Kahnawake's complaint figures show

Kahnawake publishes a yearly dispute summary. The one for 2025, dated 15 January 2026, gives these figures:06

• Incoming: 1,143.

• Screened out for the wrong jurisdiction or because they weren't actual complaints: 387.

• Addressable complaints: 756.

• About late, delayed or refused payments: 598. The other categories were locked or closed accounts (37), site fairness (39) and miscellaneous (339).

• Resolved: 746, with 10 still open at the end of the year.

• Upheld in whole or in part for the player: 150 of the 746, or 20.11% in the summary's table.

The figures don't fully add up. The four categories total 1,013, more than the 756 complaints they describe, and the summary doesn't say whether one complaint can sit in several. Its text gives the player's share as 19.95% while the table, which we added up month by month, gives 20.11%. The summary also describes a filing window of "not less than seven (7) days and not more than six (6) months". The Regulations as amended in March 2026 set the six-month limit and the casino's 45 days, with no seven-day minimum.0605

Tobique: what the licence list shows

Tobique's list says the companies on it "have been granted a remote gambling licence". On 23 October 2026 it had 195 rows with 189 distinct company names: 172 B2C licences, for companies dealing with players, and 23 B2B, for suppliers. In 72 rows (71 distinct names) the company is a registration number beginning "3-102". Six names appear twice, and Novatrix appears once as "Novatrix S.R.L" and once as "Novatrix S.R.L (B2B)". Expiry dates ran from 3 October 2026 to 2 December 2027.08

One row was already past its date: Wales Genio Three R S.R.L, expiry 3 October 2026, was still listed three weeks later. The list doesn't say whether that licence was renewed.08

The list prints neither licence numbers nor websites. A company name on it doesn't tell you which sites that company runs.

Tobique: the seal, the complaint route and the fake-seal list

The link between a site and a Tobique licence is the seal. Tobique says that "all legitimate Tobique Shields will show the link validate.thetgc.ca", and that's also the only complaints route it accepts. Complaints sent through its own website "will not be reviewed in relation to any Tobique-licensed operator"; they must go "via the complaints link located in the Tobique Shield".09

Open the validation page by clicking the seal on the casino's site. On 23 October 2026 we typed the address ourselves for winna.com and for google.com. Both pages read "Operating status: INVALID" and "The above service is NOT licensed by the Tobique Gaming Commission." When we followed the link inside Winna's own seal on 21 October, the page read "VALID" and listed winna.com, as our Winna article describes. A typed address isn't a check.10

Tobique keeps a public list of sites that, in its words, display "fraudulent information suggesting they are licensed". On 23 October 2026 it named 22 sites currently doing so, 21 of them numbered versions of one address, discovered between November 2025 and July 2026. Another 170 entries were listed as having done so previously, 157 of them first found in 2025. If a seal leads anywhere other than validate.thetgc.ca, treat the licence claim as unchecked.11

Tobique's General Code of Practice for licensees says customers "should be able to submit complaints and disputes on a 24/7 basis". A dispute the casino hasn't resolved within two months "must be referred to an approved alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") entity", and "both parties to the dispute must abide by the decision". We found no list of approved ADR providers and no complaint figures on Tobique's site.12

The same companies in other registers

Some Tobique licensees also hold a licence elsewhere. We compared the 189 company names on Tobique's list with the 1,278 entries in Anjouan's licence register on 23 October 2026. Ignoring capitals, punctuation and legal-form endings such as S.R.L or Limitada, 28 names matched a company in Anjouan's register. One more, Fortunepeak Limited, differs from Anjouan's Fortune Peak Limited only by a space.0815

Two of those companies hold the Anjouan licences behind operators we track:

• Rocketship Ventures. Anjouan's register lists sportaza.com under Rocketship Ventures SRL, licence ALSI-202606064-FI2. Tobique's list has Rocketship Ventures S.R.L, B2C, expiry 15 May 2027. See our Sportaza profile.

• Novatrix. Anjouan lists winz.io under Novatrix SRL, licence ALSI-202508056-FI2. Tobique's list has Novatrix S.R.L, B2C, expiry 13 March 2027, and a second row, "Novatrix S.R.L (B2B)", B2B, expiry 11 September 2027. See our Winz.io profile.

A company with two licences doesn't tell you which one covers the site you're on, or which regulator takes your complaint. The site's terms and the seals in its footer do. Between the two Canadian lists, two company names appear on both.

How to check a Kahnawake or Tobique licence

1. Find the licence holder. Read the casino's terms for the company name and the regulator. Note any licence number it prints, though neither commission's list carries one to match against.

2. Find the company on the regulator's list. For Kahnawake, also find the website you're on next to it. For Tobique, note the licence type and expiry date.

3. Click the seal on the casino's site. A Kahnawake logo should open a Certificate of Good Standing; a Tobique seal should open a page on validate.thetgc.ca that names the site. Check the address you land on.

4. Check the regulator's notices. Kahnawake announces suspensions and terminations in its news; its list may not show them. Tobique's fraudulent-sites page lists sites that copied its seal.

5. Know your complaint route before you need it. For Kahnawake, the casino has 45 days, then you have the Commission. For Tobique, use the link inside the seal. Our guide to what to do when a casino is refusing to pay lists what to save.

Which operators we track name either regulator

None of the 76 operators BullsRank tracks has a stored claim naming Kahnawake, and none of their official domains is on Kahnawake's permit list (database and list, 23 October 2026).

Three profiles carry a stored claim that mentions Tobique: a licence claim for Winna and for Sportaza, and a dispute clause for Donbet. Only Winna's profile shows Tobique as the licence. It is marked "Operator-stated, not verified", with "No record in registers we check" under licence number. Stored claims aren't the whole picture: our GG.BET article, fact-checked 27 September 2026, covers the Tobique licence named in GG.BET's terms and the validation page behind its seal. Our guide to what a gaming licence is and how to check one compares Tobique's list with the UK, Curaçao and Anjouan registers.

What we couldn't check

• A Kahnawake Certificate of Good Standing. The licensed sites we tried were closed to us from our location.

• Whether Wales Genio Three R's Tobique licence was renewed. The list shows only the date that has passed.

• Sportaza's terms. Its site was closed to us from our location on 23 October, so we didn't use its own wording here.

• Tobique's approved ADR providers and complaint outcomes. We found neither on its site.