UK Cyber Casinos

The Legal System and Online Casino Gambling in England

With the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which prohibited banks and credit card companies from transferring funds from American customers to offshore gaming companies, all eyes were focused squarely on the U.S and the heavy-handed legal decisions of the American government.

2007, however: Set to be the year of the United Kingdom.

The reason: September 2007 will see the final phasing in and full implementation of the U.K. Gambling Act - the first legislation enacted by a major industrialized nation to provide a specific and comprehensive regulatory system for the online gaming industry. This doesn’t, however, mean that anyone who wants to is free to provide online blackjack or other casino games.

To backtrack quickly: Online gaming is really an industry still in its infancy, launching only in 1994 when the government of Antigua and Barbuda passed a law enabling remote casinos to operate from their territory.

Forward-thinking companies, like Cryptologic and MicroGaming, seized on the opportunity, creating sophisticated and unprecedented encryption software to handle casino transactions. Other countries quickly joined in, including the Netherlands Antilles, Malta, and the U.K. territories of Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, who began issuing gambling licenses of their own.

And the multi-billion dollar online casino industry was born.

Since then, however: despite a growing, worldwide customer base and over 80 international jurisdictions now regulating it in one form or another, online gambling - in particular in the U.S. - has been marked by bills, legislation and lawsuits.

The United Kingdom has seen things differently from the get go

To wit: Recognizing industries with billion dollar revenue potential rarely disappear, and also recognizing their current gaming legislation made no allowances for online casinos (offering games of chance, like slots, blackjack, roulette and craps) or online poker rooms, essentially making all illegal, the British Government commissioned the Gambling Review Report of 2005.

Said report became the basis for the U.K. Gambling Act (given Royal Assent in April 2005) – essentially a complete overhaul of existing gambling laws and the establishment of an improved, comprehensive structure of regulation for all gaming in the U.K., including both land-based and remote casino operations.

A critical component of that Act: the creation of the U.K. Gambling Commission, a universal body to oversee all licensing and regulation enforcement with three main objectives - keeping gambling crime free, ensuring gambling is fair and open, and protecting children and vulnerable adults.

So, as far as remote gambling operators are concerned: under those auspices, licenses will now be granted for online casinos under very specific stipulations. Significantly, the company must be incorporated in the U.K. itself, locate their server in Britain and use a U.K. country code as their domain name, for starters.

They’ll also have follow the Gambling Act objectives to the letter, with comprehensive problem and underage gambling prevention protocols in place, software fairness accreditations and monthly payout percentage reports, among other requirements. Licensed sites will now also carry a kite mark assuring those standards have been met.

And only under that basis will online casinos be allowed to go forward - both in their operations and their advertising platforms - with strict and regular monitoring by the Commission and heavy penalties, fines or license revocation for any violations.

Which makes 2007 a big year - both in the U.K and around the world – for the online casino industry. Perhaps, even, its biggest ever.

No other global leader has adopted such comprehensive online gambling regulatory legislation, and it will be watched closely.

For a complete overview of the U.K. Gambling Act 2005, visit http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/Gambling_racing/.