Out-Law.com – Major changes are expected next year in the way remote gambling is regulated and taxed in Great Britain.
The reforms, if introduced as currently expected, will fundamentally alter the way in which remote gambling is licensed and will also signal profound changes to the existing tax regime.
But it appears likely that the proposed reforms will be subject to a legal challenge by gambling companies operating out of Gibraltar – the tax haven where many of the UK’s best known bookmakers are based and regulated.
The issue is just one of a number of developments in the gambling world that is set to engage industry and regulators in 2014.
Remote gambling reforms
With rising popularity in online betting, major brands such as William Hill and Ladbrokes decided some years ago to base their businesses in Gibraltar, where the tax regime offers significant advantages over the tax regime in the UK.
At the moment, an online gambling operator does not need a licence from the British Gambling Commission if it does not have any key gambling equipment in Great Britain. Even if an operator has no key equipment here, it cannot advertise its offshore gambling to people in Great Britain unless it is regulated in the EEA or a “white-listed” country. The “white-listed” countries are those whose regulatory regimes are regarded as meeting the standards required by the Gambling Act, and include the Isle of Man and Alderney/Guernsey. Gibraltar is not white-listed but is treated as part of the EEA for these purposes.
All this is set to change.
