UK and the US have been in the front pages of online gambling news.
Gambling laws are planned to be remapped by the UK government, so that the offshore operators are brought into the tax net. An online regulated gambling regime is trying to be implemented by various US states and bodies of the states. Concerning both fronts, there has been some update made public this week.
Chief executive of the leading online gambling operator William Hill, Ralph Topping, accused the British government for the so called changes in the licensing and taxation domain concerning internet gambling. Offshore online gambling operators that whish to access the UK market would be required to achieve a secondary license and to pay the taxes in the UK.
Topping’s opinion was that this was very unfair. The online gambling operations of William Hill were shifted to Gibraltar a number of years ago in order to avoid the high UK taxation, which was making it uncompetitive in the market. Instead of leveling the field by taxing offshore operators, Topping said that the UK government will have to match the levels of taxation from other jurisdictions.
The associated Press news agency reported that in the US the bid that was made by the Washington DC council was further delayed again. It was thought by the council that the public was not given enough chances to take into consideration the recently passed law that would introduce the intrastate online gambling. Therefore, the DC lottery was instructed by the DC council to pause its implementation plans and to initiate a public consultation process.
In accordance, chief Buddy Roogow, quickly made plans for wide presentations all over the city wards. However, the residents did not want them to be held in the summer, therefore they will be postponed from mid-September running into October.
Reports show that the AGA ( American gaming Association ) has spent $641,621.09 to lobby the federal government in the second quarter of 2011. Now the question remains, when will such expenses bear results.
