Online bingo in the UK has until recently been a free for all. With no unified regulatory body, and with the ability to base the companies offshore to avoid taxes, has caused some concern for the new coalition government. That is until now.
According to a 'senior government source' the coalition government intends to ban advertising in the UK for those operators based offshore and stopping the use of credit cards used for online gambling. Is this a way of giving UK sites a better slice of the pie or a “softening up” in preperation for recently proposed tax increases? Only time will tell.
Currently only gambling operators based in the UK are required to hold a license issued by the Gambling Commission and to pay UK tax on gambling profits. As such most online gambling companies are based offshore to avoid the stringent rules they would have to adhere to. Given the taxation levels that UK bingo companies and other gambling operators have to pay for being based in the UK it places a significant disadvantage in competitiveness as well. Having to be licensed by the Gambling Commission would also end some of the unfair practices that have been adopted and promoted by operators. In addition operators would have to adhere to strict rules in terms of preventing underage and problem gambling which can only be a positive for the industry. Depending on how far the legislation goes the majority of the online bingo operators that are available to the UK bingo market that refused to be licensed and pay UK taxes would cease to trade. For many others the legislation would be detrimental as the increased costs to operate in what is now a highly competitive market would bring an end to their survival.
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