UK Online Casino Gambling Legally Begins Today

In 2005 the United Kingdom passed the Gambling Act which makes it legal for UK citizens to gamble online. Since 2005 the UK government has been developing the rules and regulations for the Gambling Act. Today, the Gambling Act of 2005 will be enacted and UK punters will be able to bet online to their hearts desire.

Online slots, roulette, craps, blackjack, poker and sports betting, amongst most other casino games including bingo, is now legal.

When Tony Blair was in power and the Gambling Act was passed the intentions were to tax operators of gambling websites while also regulating them in order to strictly protect against underage gambling and other problems. Blair also intended to apply great services for problem gamblers.

When Gordon Brown took over he had no choice but to enable the Gambling Act of 2005, however he is a Conservative who is against gambling and online casinos.

When the taxing regulations were implemented for online operators under Brown, in order to deter the proliferation of gambling operators in the UK, he put the tax rate for online gambling operators at 15%, which is what land based operators are taxed at.

However, what Gordon Brown failed to realize was that while the high tax would deter operators from moving to the UK, the operators could still run their ship offshore while still having the ability to offer their services to UK punters.

The problem with this is that the strict guidelines operators in the UK must follow, offshore operators are not gauranteed to follow.

"Gordon Brown does not like gambling and his government no longer has a strategy," said the Conservative spokesman on culture, media and sport, Jeremy Hunt. "Most people as concerned as we are about problem gambling say the real issue is unregulated internet gambling. In casinos there are safeguards; on a website you are gambling alone at home. If ministers had thought more carefully they would have encouraged more internet sites to be registered in the UK."

One study in South Africa concluded that problem gambling went up when gambling proliferated and became easy to access, however the study also concluded that problem gambling actually went down when access to gambling was easy if it was coupled with a strong public program informing citizens of the dangers of gambling.

The money that could have been used from taxing online gambling in the UK could have went to a strong campaign informing the public of gambling's dangers. Not that those programs will not be instituted, but the amount of taxes the UK could have made will be minimal.

Whatever the case may be, as of today, any of-age resident of the UK can gamble online, and although not as progressive as it should be, the UK government, in enacting this law, is light years ahead of most of the world.

September 1, 2007
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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