1 6 September 2002

News:

Industry leaders, regulators, government officials and advisors will meet in London on 26 November at a Special Briefing organised by World Online Gambling Law Report to discuss money laundering and payment systems.

The Isle of Man’s new draft Anti-Money Laundering Code specifically for online gambling has been attacked by leading industry figures as threatening the commercial viability of companies operating from the island.

The Camelot Group, who run the UK national lottery, have lost their claim to have the domain name Camelotto.co.uk transferred to them.

Features:

In this carefully argued article. Professor Neville Topham, one of the architects of the Isle of Man Online Gambling Act 2001, critically considers the draft Anti-Money Laundering Code issued by the Gambling Control Commission in July 2002

Even supposing everything goes according to plan, is it conceivable that sometime in 2004/5 Britain instantly becomes, and then remains, the number one country in which to host, operate, and pay taxes on your online betting or gaming site?

Or is it more likely that the judges of whether Budd and the government got it right will be the world’s online gamblers and those who seek to offer them betting opportunities under some form of legal protection?

There can be few traditional gambling companies who have not considered exploiting a trusted brand image by targeting new markets on the internet. Writing software from scratch and developing a secure network of internet servers and back office systems represents a significant investment in time and money - with uncertain results. Specialist companies have been quick to see this opportunity and offer ‘turnkey’ gambling software solutions. But which route is best, and what commercial and legal risks accompany the choice? Carl Rohsler and Tom Sebire of Norton Rose discuss the issues.

It is anticipated that the recommendations made by the Budd Report last year (and largely endorsed in the White Paper earlier this year) will make it into the Queen’s Speech for 2003 and finally pass into legislation by Royal Assent at the end of 2004. One single Act of Parliament will then govern the law relating to gambling in the UK. That is not a long timetable in lobbying terms and industry bodies such as iGGBA are already making strenuous attempts to get the Department for Culture Media and Sport (the DCMS), Gaming Board and Customs and Excise supportive of the online gaming industry’s views, and, as the new industry entrant, its desire to sensibly co-exist with other UK betting and gaming service providers.

This article sets out the current state of internet gambling regulation in Australia and concludes that, despite the enactment of recent Australian Federal internet gambling legislation which restricts the ability of operators to offer internet casinos and other interactive games to Australian residents, these federal restrictions are not as far-reaching as many would think. The Federal legislation does not prohibit operators from setting up Australian interactive gambling operations which offer their products to non-Australians only. In addition, the Federal legislation specifically does not cover other types of internet gambling operations such as sports betting, lotteries or wagering.