Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Alright, welcome everyone. Today we will discuss the Kanawaki license and to be more specific, the Kanavaki license for your online gaming business. And why would you have to choose the Kanawaki over the most popular license in the world in 2022, which is the Curacao license, obviously. Right. And why would you want to pay just a double amount of money that you would pay for the Curacao license? So check this out, because there are few reasons and I'll share all of them.
[00:00:35] So when it comes down to international gaming licenses, there are very few choices that don't break the bank and that takes a few weeks to get. Don't take like year or two years like with some local licenses. Right. And that also are accepted by banks, that are accepted by payment system providers and that are accepted by software and hardware providers in case if you want to connect sportsbook or maybe casino games. Right. So Kanawaki and Carousel licenses are between these well accepted licenses by all major providers and PSPs and banks. Kennewaukee is the First Nations Reserve that is located in Quebec, Canada on the south shore of St. Lawrence River. And it's just like next to Montreal.
[00:01:22] So the population of the Kanawaki is around 10,000 people. So it's a fairly small First Nations Reserve and it is also one of the first jurisdictions in the world that entered the online gaming business back in 1996. So they're in the business for a pretty long time. And if you just google then you will find a list of multiple sites that are running under the license of Kahnawake.
[00:01:49] And just between of them is the Kent play casino or 22 bath Bruno casino. So all these casinos they run on the license of the Kennewocky. So let's check what they offer and by them I mean Kennewucky. So there are six types of the licenses that they currently offer for the business owners. So the first one is the regular one for any online gaming operator. If you are running the Sportsbook, Casino, Lotto, any other game of chance, then this license is for you. Good news. The second one is the B2B alternative license of the Curacao one. So if you offer your games to other businesses, for example, you are a software development company and if you want to offer your games to operators, then you will need this one B2B license.
[00:02:38] Also good news, the third one has the license that would allow you to locate gaming equipment in Kanawaki.
[00:02:45] I don't know why would you need this one? Why would anyone want to pay for this License. Anyway, the next one is live dealer studio license. So in this case you would need to put your operations right there in Kanawaki. So for example, if you live in Montreal and if you want to run live dealer studios, you would have to put your studio physically in Kanawaki in order to get that license. Then there is a license for land based casinos as well located in Kahnawake. And the last one is the key person permit license that is mandatory for everyone who runs regular license, who runs casino, sportsbook or Lottos or any other games, and is a personal license issued for the management in order to get that CPA regular license. And just like with the Curacao license, Kanawaki license also have some restrictions. So under the license of Kanawaki you cannot operate in the United States. And if you want to operate in the United States, then we cannot help you. Because the market of the United States is so segmented that every state has their own license and you would need to apply for the license with every state. So for example, you want the license in Texas, go and apply there. You want the license of Nevada, go and apply there. Pennsylvania, the same on average license in the US costs €100,000 per piece and there are no substitutes for the license of the US. So if you're planning to target the United States market, if you will receive and accept clients from the United States, then the only way for you is to apply for the local license there in those states, right?
[00:04:26] So the key question is why would anyone want to apply for the Kennewaukee license and pay the double they pay for the Curacao license? Right? So the fair question, so the first thing is that the Kanawa key license is the master license when the Curacao license is the sub license. And technically speaking, if the master licensor in Curacao that issued that sublicense for your business loses his master license, so he, you know, does something really bad, then every business will lose their sublicense as well. So it's a risk that markets market currently appears and that key players and operators currently take. And so far it works so good. But anyway, if you want a peace of mind that Kanawaki is the master license in this scenario, like just described with the Curacao cannot be applied on the Kanawaki because you will be the boss of your own license. The second thing, and the big one is the corporate services. So to get the license on the carousel, you would need to incorporate first the company there in Curacao with Kanavaki, they do not have corporate services in the First Nations Reserve, which means that you can have your current company that you run and you can use that company in order to get the license. Or you can open a company anywhere in the world. You can open a company in Cyprus, Seychelles, you can open a company in Europe, Asia, wherever.
[00:05:56] If it's easy to get the background check of the beneficial owner, and if your structure is transparent, then the Kanawaki have no problem at all to issue the license for that business. Which is also great because you can use this knowledge to structure your entire company in a way where you would optimize taxes if you are smart, right?
[00:06:22] Alright. So the third one is the reputation. And this is the tricky one, because no PSPs, no banks or software hardware providers currently in 2022 have any issues working with the Curacao license as well.
[00:06:36] But the tricky part is about the players themselves. Because the Curacao license over the years being the most popular license in the world, while players don't treat it as they would treat, let's say a Taiwan license like Maltese License or the license of Isle of Man or any other local license there is, with the Kanawaki license, the situation is different because people trust it more as it wasn't used as much.
[00:07:08] So the time will show. And if the Kanawaki license becomes as popular as the Curacao license, I hope that they will also remain the reputation. Another big one is domains. So under the license of Curacao, for example, you have a default package that includes two domains only, right? So which means that for example, if you run sportsbook sites, you run two of them. So you can have two domains, separate domains. Both of your sportsbooks will be licensed under the same license of Curacao. With Kanavaki is, well, it's a big one. You can have unlimited amount of domains if you own them. So which means that you can have 10, 20, 30 domains. You do not have to pay any extra for those domains, just like you would have to do with the Curacao, where you would have to pay for every separate domain.
[00:07:58] So if you own the domains, if you need 1020, then Kennewaukee is a great choice. Of course you cannot grant you a master license. You cannot issue the sub licenses. The mains are for your use and your use only.
[00:08:14] The last but not the least one is the license application process itself.
[00:08:18] Because with the Kanawaki Gaming Commission, the process is of receiving, of reviewing and actually deciding on whether to issue the license or maybe to decline. The license is well established and balanced. So it takes between two to three months to get the decision and the license itself.
[00:08:38] With the Curacao license, the process can take between two and nine months, right?
[00:08:46] So what will happen if you do something bad with your business and if Kanawaki Gaming Commission receives a complaint from the client or maybe from some institution like the government institution, like local licensor sent the inquiry to the Kanawaki Gaming License to take measures against you. So what will Kanawaki Gaming License do in this case? Right, so the first thing is that they will review the case so everything happens on case by case basis. The second thing is that they will provide you with the recommendation. So for example, you will need to remove this violation within like two or three weeks.
[00:09:26] And then once they issue this recommendation to you, they will get back to you in two to three weeks to check whether or not you actually did what they recommended. And if you did not, then blame on yourself because you can technically speaking lose the license as well.
[00:09:47] And just like I described, it will take between two to three months to get the license.
[00:09:52] So make sure that you have this time in advance and you will need even more time if you need to, if you want to connect payment system providers, open banking accounts. So two to three times is the optimal so two to three months is the optimal amount of time that you will need to get the license. And make sure that you know all the countries that do not support or the countries that you will have problems with working under the license of Kanawaki. You can download this file of all these countries somewhere below this video. We'll leave the link to the file, it is free. And I will also include all the KYC papers and templates that you will need applying for the Canova Q license. So download those as well.
[00:10:40] The entire application process is fairly simple. There is nothing crazy about it. Just like with the Curacao license, there are no extra steps that you would need to take. So the first step is to incorporate your business in any geography that would make sense for your business. The second thing is to collect the entire paperwork and to get through the KYC process.
[00:11:03] The third thing is to apply for the license itself and then get through the due diligence state when your personality will be assessed and then decision will be made whether or not to proceed with the permit itself.
[00:11:18] Then after the review of this due diligence and this due diligence stage, you will get the permit and the permit will be valid for the six months. So you will have six months to prove that your business is what you are saying. It is because after the six month period, the Kanawaki Gaming Commission will get back to you to check what is that you are doing and if everything is according to the plan and you are not cutting the corners, then they will issue the license for the next five months which is also a big difference comparing to the Curacao license where you get the license for another year. Alright, so that's it for the Kannawaki license. And if you believe that I didn't cover some topics then please send me a message where I will leave my number and you can send me a message with your questions as well. I will be happy to answer all of them. Have a good time you and see you in my next video. Goodbye.
