Gibraltar-licensed online gambling operator Mansion has informed its UK players that they will lose access to the site effective Sept. 15. Mansion Poker players reported receiving emails on Wednesday announcing the change, which the company said was “due to changing regulations regarding online gaming in the United Kingdom.”
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has given online gambling companies currently serving UK punters until Sept. 15 to submit applications for the UK’s new licensing regime, which takes effect Oct. 1. The new regime will compel all UK-facing operators to hold a UKGC-issued license if they want the right to (a) market their wares to UK punters and (b) pay 15% tax on revenue from UK-facing online gambling operations as of Dec. 1. (That is, unless the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association’s legal challenge of the UK’s new gambling laws proves successful.)
Also frantically rejigging their operations to cope with the UK’s harsh new environment is Titanbet, the sports betting operator controlled by online gambling software suppliers Playtech. This week, Titanbet.com informed its UK customers that it was switching them to a new site, Titanbet.co.uk. The new Antigua-licensed site will be operated by Playtech subsidiary PT Entertainment Services.
Titanbet’s UK sportsbook spokesman Russell Yershon told eGaming Review the player transfer would be complete by Sept. 8, one week ahead of the UKGC’s deadline. The idea is to capitalize on the UKGC’s short-term offer to let operators licensed in the soon to be phased out ‘white list’ jurisdictions – including Antigua, Alderney and the Isle of Man – to maintain continuity with punters while the UKGC processes their license applications.
