Following up on yesterday's piece on the changes to UK gambling regulation and the gambling act there's been an announcement from the Gambling Commission which delays the implimentation from 1 October to 1 November 2014. Could be excellent news, or might just be a stay of execution before it all rolls through as planned, certainly going to make for an interesting month though. |
The Gambling Commission have taken the decision to delay the changes following a legal challenge being filed by the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association (GBGA). As the case is still knocking about the high court it appears that the 1 October timeline was no longer viable.
The full, but rather brief, statement from the Gambling Commission was:
Due to a High Court challenge, DCMS will be taking the necessary steps to postpone this legislation coming into force until 1 November 2014. This will allow a judgment to be made without undue time pressure.
The changes themselves have been written under the guise of "necessary and proportionate means of achieving enhanced consumer protection for British citizens".
Although the Gambling Commission (‘GC’) ‘had no reason’ to suppose that the ‘big companies in Gibraltar’ were not ‘behaving in a socially responsible way’ she ‘could not provide any assurance to the British Government’ that they were doing so
- Whether the restrictive measures are appropriate and necessary;
- Whether the restrictive measures are the least restrictive means available; and
- Whether they create more disadvantages than they solve
Well to help out with the case I'd like to venture the following responses to those statements.
No, the measures are not appropriate or necessary. The Gambling Commission only this year has watched on pointlessly while Canbet, Bodugi and BetButler all went to the wall leaving customers millions of pounds out of pocket.
No, the measures are not the least restrictive available. There are already gambling boards throughout Europe and the world doing a similar if not better job (or certainly no worse) than the Gambling Commission. Leaving things as they are would be a more suitable action.
Yes, they create more disadvantages than they solve. Choice is limited, a monopoly or cartel will be created by the limited operators left in the market, and of course instead of having safe old GBGA overseeing what's happening, we've instead got the Gambling Commission.
Your welcome.
Now all we need is for the Gambling Commission to be defeated in court and Pinnacle can reopen to the Great British public once again!