Gibraltar’s chief minister is talking to UK officials to discuss the latter’s proposed changes to gambling industry laws. Peter Caruana will first address the Conservative 1922 Committee of backbench MPs before holding a meeting with UK Treasury Officials. Caruana’s hearing in relation to UK proposed gambling law changes that will see online gambling industry firms licensed, regulated and taxed by the UK. It comes after the DCMS announced anyone wanting to take bets from UK citizens will need a UK Gambling Commission license.
If you are one of the many firms that are already on the rock, such as William Hill and Betfair, then moving back over probably isn’t something that you’ll be doing. Much more likely is that firms on the Rock will simply pick up a UK license and place some infrastructure back in the UK. If they don’t even do that then they can kiss the UK market goodbye. Gibraltar is no longer one of the worldwide hubs for the online gaming industry after it has been left behind by London and Manila in recent times.
Hungary is to become one of the next countries to introduce a taxation system for online gambling. The Budapest Business Journal reports that National Economy Minister György Matolcs told a parliamentary committee that taxation will begin by next year. He added, “the concept for taxing online gambling was being prepared. Levying the tax will be a technically difficult task.”
We have reported before that the country’s unregulated online gaming industry could be worth as much as 100billion forints per year. Regulation is likely to end the state monopoly and open up the market to firms that have a reputable track record.
