POSSIBLE CHANGE IN UK ONLINE GAMBLING LEGISLATION - Author: KatA 

Foreign-based online casinos operating in the UK may soon require UK gaming licenses. A new proposal by the Department for Culture, Media and Sports has outlined a possible licensing procedure for all foreign-based online casinos in the UK. If the proposal becomes law, offshore online casinos could qualify for a UK gaming license provided they abide by a series of rules. To qualify for a license, interested parties will need to agree to protect children and problem gamblers. They’ll also be required to share any suspicious activity that occurs on their site, including any suspect sports betting patterns. This change in licensing procedure comes in response to complaints from UK based online gaming operators that they face unfair competition from foreign sites. As only locally based sites are currently taxed by the government, they feel that they’re at a disadvantage to foreign sites targeting UK citizens. Many groups are publicly supporting the proposal such as Right2bet. This online group is currently promoting the idea of a free gambling market across the European Union. They’re publicly supporting this policy change as it encourages open competition between companies. However, others question the government’s motives and don’t believe that the policy has been designed to help protect local enterprise. PricewaterhouseCooper's head of gaming, David Trunkfield, commented "You don't have to be too cynical to think that this is also going to be a way of raising tax." For better or worse, the major issue before this proposal can become law is to figure out who exactly can be taxed and how it can be done. Geographic IP tracking is being discussed but global internet gaming legislation is definitely still a work in progress.