Gibraltar Commences Gambling Reform Process
The Gibraltar government has started a financial services-inspired gambling reform process. A new bill proposes increased accountability of individuals of gambling operators and will introduce an appeals process for operators to dispute regulatory decisions.
Gibraltar Introduces Gambling Reform Bill © Pixabay.
The Gibraltar government is pushing ahead with plans to reform the country’s gambling laws and has published the first draft of a bill to replace the 2005 Gibraltar Gambling Act. Officials have been inspired by the financial services sector regulation and believe the new proposals will allow for more transparency and accountability.
If the bill is passed, one positive aspect for operators who the country’s Gambling Commissioner licences is that the new bill would provide greater flexibility in locating their equipment and servers.
The bill would also see the range of licences extended and introduce new processes to deal with grievances that the government claim will improve transparency on the regulator side and make the licensing authority and regulator more accountable.
“The bill seeks to preserve and enshrine Gibraltar’s supportive and understanding approach to the proper and reasonable needs of the online gambling industry, while better equipping the licensing authority and the regulator to be responsive both to the changed and changing needs of the industry and also to Gibraltar’s regulatory objectives,”
Of particular interest to operators will be the degree of flexibility that the bill will introduce and the added reassurance of a right of appeal. An operator, supplier or individual will have the opportunity to refute decisions made, and cases will be reviewed by a soon to be created Gambling Appeals Tribunal.
Operators will also need to have a closer relationship with licencing authorities. They will need to nominate an “approved person” who will perform regulatory-related functions, and this person needs to be approved by the regulator. The bill will also introduce a regulatory regime that will need to seek approval concerning changes in shareholder control of a Gibraltar licenced gambling company.
The bill will also introduce new powers available to the regulator to ensure compliance which the government describes as “appropriate”. The text reads: “These are designed and intended to ensure that the licensing authority or the regulator (as the case may be) has the necessary options to ensure an appropriate and timely, but fair and proportionate response to regulatory and licensing contraventions,”
The influences for the new gambling reform bill are drawn from the Gibraltar Financial Services Act 2019 and follow a March 2016 review of Gibraltar’s online gambling sector.
Gibraltar has long been a destination for gambling companies who enjoy many perks when registering their businesses there. Budgets for advertising at the biggest operators run into millions of pounds, and as marketing budgets are VAT exempt, the savings can be considerable. Corporation tax is also much lower on the island. The 10% rate is half that of the 20% that companies in the United Kingdom pay.
BetVictor (Victor Chandler) was the first betting company to move its base of operations to Gibraltar in 1997. The company made the move in protest over tax hikes introduced by the Chancellor Of The Exchequer in the Labour Party, Gordon Brown.
Brown, who would later become the Prime Minister of the UK, had hoped to raise about £500 million a year in betting duties. However, the new tax saw an exodus of operators, with William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Stan James among those who followed suit with a move to Gibraltar.
