The United Kingdom government has announced its intentions to review its
Gambling Act, after a number of top gambling operators threatened to take their
casino and sports betting services to offshore locations in order to avoid
paying high taxes.
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport is currently conducting an
important study on gambling in the United Kingdom, which will be tabled before
Parliament by the beginning of next year.
While the law is being reviewed, the government announced that it will also
be freezing the White List of operators that have been approved by
authorities to advertise their services and products in the UK market.
The Department said that it will not be accepting any more applications or
making any additions to the White List until early next year at least, to give
it time to review the legislation.
Top gambling operators such as William Hill and Ladbrokes have indicated
their intentions to shift their operations to Gibraltar in a bid to avoid paying
the whopping 15% tax imposed on them by the UK government.
These groups call it unfair that they are subject to such high taxation,
while other groups who choose to operate offshore such as Victor Chandler are
also allowed to advertise in the UK yet are only made to pay tax of around 1.5%.
If the operators are true to their word and start moving offshore, the
government stands to lose millions of pounds in revenue, and it is thus in its
best interest to prevent this at all costs.
