08/01/2010, Online casino
The British Department for Culture, Media and Sports proposed the licensing of the online casinos operating from overseas.

This mean that the online operators currently licensed outside UK will have to apply for a license from the Gambling Commission, in case they want to provide their services on the British market.
The British government looks to extend the existing regulation in order to safeguard the UK consumers and to generate income for the UK horse racing industry.

The only operators allowed to advertise and to provide their services in the UK are those who are based and licensed here.
The gambling operators will have to comply with British gambling requirements such as: the protection of the children, their contribution to the research, education and treatment in case of problem gambling in the United Kingdom, etc.
British gamblers form one of the largest customer bases for online gambling in the EU.

“Yet, for many reasons, increasingly few companies active in the British market are now regulated by the commission. Though British consumers are not unprotected - most overseas jurisdictions have regulatory systems - standards vary and requirements differ from our own. Therefore, I feel that change is necessary to ensure the protections in the Gambling Act - to keep gambling crime free, to ensure gambling is fair and open and to ensure that children and vulnerable people are protected from harm - continue to be afforded to British consumers,” says Mr. Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports minister.

The UK government wishes to prevent the sports corruption and to protect residents from predatory gambling by allowing the license requirements.
All gaming operators either foreign or domestic, who accept bets on British horse racing will be taxed to subsidize sports.

Until recently, many bookmakers moved their online businesses overseas in order to avoid the UK taxes. William Hill and Ladbrokes, for example, decided to move their online sports betting operations to white-listed Gibraltar last year.