Online gambling sites might soon require special licensing in order to continue to operate in the UK
British authorities have announced recently that they are reviewing online gambling licensing rules in the country. This move came as a result of the scandalous investigation in the USA of popular online poker sites, such as Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker earlier this year. Two of the aforementioned sites, Poker Stars and Full Tilt were licensed in the offshore Isle of Man and Alderney respectively, which both are part of the UK and have an autonomous right to issue gambling licenses.
As of today, the British laws allow UK citizens to gamble on any website, regardless of where it is licensed, as long as the licence is valid. This automatically implies that the licensing authorities make sure their licensees operate in compliance with the local laws in the markets in which they are active, though the recent developments in the online poker websites case show that the reality is far from it.
Following the US-initiated investigation, the gambling commission of Alderney has reconsidered its previous decision to grant operating licence to Full Tilt Poker, and as a result the licence has been revoked. As of today the gambling control authority of the Isle of Man has backed the licence which was issued to Poker Stars, but the investigation in the US is still on.
This situation caused the British government to review their stance on the foreign or off-shore issued gambling licences. There is a special commission working on the matter these days, and its recommendations are expected to become public within weeks. It is not clear, how the licensing process will be changed, but the fact that changes are coming is quite obvious.
