SportingBet Trashes UK's Policy
As the online casino gambling and betting industry just continue to expand
exponentially in the United Kingdom, it is no wonder that the British Government
is having some setbacks in policy enforcement. Once the U.S. passed anti-online
casinos legislation, many companies focused sole attention on the UK, and
Europe. As a result, some companies feel that the UK not only has overly
restrictive online gambling regulations, but that the government’s requirements
are unclear.
SportingBet in particular is displeased with the UK’s gambling policy, and has
protested the restrictions by moving the company to the Channel Islands. But the
Chief Executive for SportingBet, Andrew McIver, is quick to note that the
company did not want to have to move out of the UK, but they felt that they had
to or else face hefty fines from the government for a problem they could not
fix. So, as a way to avoid further fines, the online casino betting company paid
the £10 million penalty and relocated.
McIver did not have extremely kind words for the Gambling Commission which
oversees online casino gambling, sports betting, and land-based gambling. He
comments on the reasons for the move. “We have computer systems that need to be
updated. If we don't meet [the Gambling Commission] requirements by September we
will be committing a criminal offence. The problem is we don't know what the
requirements are. We don't want to leave this country - we never did - but we
feel we have no choice. You only have to look at the way the super casino issue
was handled.”
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