UK's culture secretary Tessa Jowell has announced government intentions of forming an international code for online casinos. Jowell claims that while the upcoming Gambling Act plans to implement restriction to online casinos, such as age verification requirement, the restrictions will not be legally binding to offshore online casinos. Last year's Gambling Act determined a set of legal guidelines for online gambling sites which are based onshore in the UK, allowing licensed sites to offer online gambling services from September 2007.
The minister now hopes to target offshore online casinos. A summit, planned for October 2006, will hopefully be a step forward in the consolidation of a new code of practice for online casinos based in Gibraltar, the Turks and Calicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, Antigua and Costa Rica. It is the government intention to summons governmental delegates of the main shore's online casinos and gaming companies as well as the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization.
It is quite obvious that British Governments attempts to implement this new code of practice for online casinos will not be simple. Online casinos are basically asked to risk a lucrative source of revenue by imposing new restrictions and provisions in their online gambling sites. Jowell claims British government is fully aware of the difficulty involved with trying to make that step in the industry. Hopefully, she says, leading companies' execs will realize the importance of this code of practice to their future business and the continuous growth of the whole online gambling industry. |
