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Licenses
should be granted to operate Internet Casinos in Britain
The Gaming Board for Great Britain has recommended to the Government
that new legislation should be introduced to licence Internet casinos
in Britain.
The Gaming Board for Great Britain, established under statute to
regulate casinos in the UK has reported to the Home Secretary on
Internet gambling. The Board's study was carried out in late 1999/
early 2000. The Gaming Board's research suggested that "The
British population has a propensity to gamble … perhaps one
per cent of British adults gamble on the Internet at some time in
each week", and that "the amount of gambling is predicted
to grow with it". Despite such high usage, current gaming regulation
is still rooted in the 1968 Gaming Act. Internet gaming was beyond
the original intent of those who drafted the legislation and the
Gaming Board found that when applied to Internet gambling the legislation
was "erratic". The current legal position on gaming is
as follows:
- It is illegal
to set up an online casino site in Britain
- However -
there is nothing in the legislation which makes it illegal, or
seeks to prevent, British residents gambling on the Internet from
their own homes
- The only
licensed casinos which can operate in Britain are those on licensed
and registered premises.
- Overseas
gambling operations are subject to restrictions on the extent
to which they can advertise here. In the case of casino and similar
gaming, this does not amount to a total ban but prevents advertisements
which, to paraphrase, invite the public to subscribe money or
to apply for information about facilities for subscribing money.
Some Internet casino operators have begun to advertise within
these constraints. Added complications arise because the whole
question of what constitutes an advertisement on the Internet,
and then what can or cannot be done if it is, remains far from
clear.
The Gaming Board considered 3 options for dealing with Internet
gambling in future. The options considered were:
Option (i)
retain the status quo
Under current legislation, British residents can gamble online -
but only on sites licensed offshore. This means British residents
are being allowed to gamble at offshore sites for which there was
no means of ensuring such sites were operated properly or fairly.
Furthermore, the government was losing revenue and tax. Revenue
and tax from licensing Internet casinos is being diverted to jurisdictions,
giving a boost to their economic situation. If the market continued
to develop without British involvement some industry respondents
suggested it might be too late to recover and make an impact as
they will have already set up offshore operations.
Option (ii)
introduce measures to prevent offshore Internet gambling
A number of measures were considered, but all deemed to be impracticable
and probably unenforceable. The measures considered could have included
simply making it illegal for a British resident to gamble online,
including from their own homes. The Board considered such a measure
was neither desirable nor enforceable (search and seizure rules
invariably bring civil liberties into issue). Preventing access
to overseas gambling sites also seemed impracticable, and a law
making it illegal for offshore sites to accept bets from Britain
would also be difficult to enforce as such sites were outside of
British legal jurisdiction. The Gaming Board concluded that attempts
at preventing offshore Internet gambling were neither sensible nor
likely to be successful.
Option (iii)
Legislate to permit, regulate and tax.
The Gaming Board's preferred option. By allowing sites to be licensed
there could be proper regulation and control. Legislation would
be needed to permit the licensing of Internet casinos based in Britain.
In licensing such operations The Gaming Board would take responsibility
for ensuring those granted a licence were fit and proper and had
financial wherewithal to operate the gaming. By licensing such operations
the Treasury would benefit also – and this was better than
allowing the money to be paid offshore.
The Gaming
Board's conclusion was that "a structured and coherent
legislative system is needed which permits controlled and regulated
Internet gambling sites in Britain." Since publishing its report,
the Gambling Review Board in its Report to Government dated July
2001 has adopted the Gaming Board's recommendation for new legislation
to licence British Internet casinos.
Article written
by The Editor, Casino.co.uk
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