The UK Gambling Commission, a regulatory body which is in charge of some of the gambling operations within the country’s territory, has obtained a total of 161 online applications from operators that are part of the the so-called white list. All these operators are also currently interested in being given the opportunity to keep on providing UK-based bettors with their services while their applications are being considered.
Generally speaking, the whitelisted gambling jurisdictions are countries and territories that were authorized by the Gambling Act 2005 to operate in the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom is getting ready to implement its new Gambling Act 2014, which is to include regulations concerning licensing and advertising. It will also demand from providers that offer their services to British players to be issued a UKGC license as of October 1. Only this way they will be able to operate on the territory of the country.
The new regulation indicates the ending of the white list era, which gave gambling operators, that were licensed in Antigua, Alderney, the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, and the Isle of Man, the permission to work with UK-based bettors.
The UKGC offered to extend the validity of the licenses of all white list operators, so as not to interrupt their services, while their applications are examined by the regulatory body. The gambling providers had to file their applications before midnight on September 16.
However, the facts show that not all of the operators, which managed to file their applications for a license continuation on time, actually intend to keep on providing their services on the British gambling market. The main reason for this is the so-called Point of Consumption Tax – POCT, which is expected to come into effect on December 1. Under this new regulation, all online bets placed within the territory of the United Kingdom will be subject to a 15% tax.
This is why local gambling experts believe that a lot of the gambling operators filed their applications only to be able to maintain their right to provide their services to local bettors. Yet, this does not necessarily mean that they will keep on doing so. In other words, their purpose is to have their options open and to be given the opportunity to decide whether the new rules in the country will turn out to be financially beneficial to them.
