Regulatory Developments
United Kingdom
The Group operates via an Alderney licence, and is therefore permitted to continue to advertise into the UK following the Gambling Act 2005 coming into full force in September 2007. The Island of Alderney is specified by a subsequent regulation to the Gambling Act (Gambling Act 2005 (Advertising of Foreign Gambling) Regulations 2007) as a “whitelisted” jurisdiction for the purposes of UK advertising, (including the right to advertise on television). Such advertising is restricted to “remote gambling” which is defined as gambling by means of a form of remote communication, such as the Internet, telephone or television.
A key consideration in the Group’s decision to relocate to Alderney was the favourable tax regime compared to that of the UK. It is clear that following the UK government’s decision to impose a 15% gross profits tax on UK licensed online gambling operators, only a limited number of operators are electing to licence their online operations in the UK.