UK govt bars offshore pack from online gaming ads

[clevfan]

UK govt bars offshore pack from online gaming ads

Thu Aug 9, 2007



LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Britain's government on Thursday barred a swathe of online gambling companies from advertising in the UK from September after it ruled that the countries where they were based did not have stringent enough regulations.

Despite the firms having been granted licences to run internet poker and casino Web sites in Britain, the government said that any online firm based in gaming hotspots such as Costa Rica, the Netherlands Antilles and Belize would no longer be able to advertise in the UK.

It said firms based in Alderney and the Isle of Man would be allowed to advertise while it was still considering whether to give permission to firms based in Antigua and the Kahnawake reserve in Canada.

[clevfan]

New laws to ban gambling website ads

By Roger Blitz, Leisure Industries Correspondent
Financial Times

August 10 2007

About 1,000 gambling websites will be banned from advertising in the UK by new laws coming into force on September 1.

Littlewoodscasino.com, Betfred Casino and William Hill’s online casino are among sites that fall foul of the restrictions. The aim is to stop unregulated gambling sites trying to attract British customers, according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Sites in the UK, continental Europe and other “white list’’ areas will be allowed to advertise on TV and radio and in print media, subject to UK advertising rules. To make it on to the white list, countries must show they have suitably stringent regulatory regimes in place.

Most leading online gambling companies, such as PartyGaming, 888 and Ladbrokes, are registered in the Isle of Man, Alderney or Gib*raltar, which do not need to apply for a white listing. They satisfied UK demands that their licensing regimes were strong enough to stop children gambling, protect vulnerable people, maintain fairness, prevent money-laundering and stop crime.

The government is still considering a white list application from Antigua which, with more than 500 licences, is the biggest gambling jurisdiction in the world, and one from the Kahnawake Canadian Reservation, with 400 licences.

Costa Rica and Belize, other big online gambling centres, did not apply, while bids from the Netherland Antilles and Tasmania were rejected. There are about 2,300 gambling websites worldwide, according to independent research.

The white listing will force sites such as William Hill Casino, Betfred Casino, Poker, Interpoker.com and Littlewoodscasino.com to move their licences if they wish to advertise in the UK.

David Harding, chief executive of William Hill, said the company would relocate from Curaçao to a new jurisdiction by September 1. The other websites are registered in the Netherland Antilles.

James Purnell, culture secretary, said he made no apology for banning websites from places that did not meet UK standards. He claimed that the criteria for listing had driven up regulatory standards in some countries.

“The Isle of Man, for example, has made significant improvements to their regulatory regime in order to secure a place on the white list. This includes requiring all licensees to make contributions to problem gambling research, education and treatment.”

The ban applies to TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, taxis, buses, the Tube and some websites.

A Gambling Commission survey showed 5.9 per cent of the adult population participated in remote gambling, excluding the National Lottery, each month.

[Dell Dude]

This Gordon Brown is going to be a problem. He's more Jon Kyl and less Barney Frank when it comes to online gambling.