Royal Assent Given to UK Gambling Act Changes

May 20, 2014 by

united kingdom gambling actThe United Kingdom Gambling Act of 2005 is the main law that handles everything to do with gambling inside of the UK, and it’s going to have some major changes coming after assent was given to a bill containing key amendments. These changes will significantly impact the online gambling industry inside of the UK, and it could also influence how other parts of the world handle the regulation of Internet-based gambling.

Changes Confirmed for the United Kingdom Gambling Act

Before these changes, the UK was in a difficult situation handling operators that were located outside of their jurisdiction. These operators were still allowed to offer games to players inside of the UK, but they weren’t required to get a United Kingdom gambling license. The main changes have to do with switching this around to where operators have to get a UK license no matter where they are located. This change comes after a lot of companies moved outside of the United Kingdom to make their tax liability more favorable without losing their player base.

Reasons for These Changes

There are two main reasons for these changes to the 2005 Gambling Act. The first reason is that the government is missing out on some serious revenue by not being able to tax and license these companies. This is a pretty big deal considering that companies have moved outside of the United Kingdom for the express purpose of lowering the amount of taxes that they have to pay.

The second reason is for the protection of the players. If you’re licensed outside of the UK, then their Gambling Commission doesn’t get to set rules for how you run your business. This means that the Gambling Commission effectively cannot protect the players of the United Kingdom which is one of their main jobs.

In short, these changes allow the Commission to protect players from the United Kingdom in ways that they were not able to do before. This includes help for problem gamblers and protecting underage people from being able to gamble.

posted in Casino News • No Comments

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.