UK Gambling Bill Become Law

Published: Friday, April 08, 2005 Online-Casinos.com

UK GAMBLING BILL TO BECOME LAW

Last minute political horse-trading gets the Bill through

The highly contentious and much revised UK Gambling Bill was on the last lap to becoming law as we went to press.

The Bill was approved by the House of Lords after the government scaled down plans for eight regional "super-casinos" to just one.

It completed all its Lords stages on Wednesday and is set to become law when it returns to the House of Commons, probably after the weekend.

The bill appeared doomed until Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell struck a deal with the Tories to create just one "super" casino. It now looks likely to be approved before Parliament is dissolved next Monday for the general election, with the provisions regarding online gambling seemingly intact.

Given a third reading without a vote, the new law will allow casinos to open 24-hours-a-day with unlimited jackpots. It will also introduce compulsory age checks on gambling websites, set up a new Gambling Commission to police the industry and create a new offence of permitting a child to gamble.

The location of the new "super casino" will be decided by an independent panel.

The Gambling Bill originally included plans to allow an unlimited number of such casinos. But the plans were reduced to eight following pressure from Labour Party backbenchers and charities, and the looming threat that the Tories could make it an election issue finally brought it down to one.

Shadow Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said that the establishment of the Gambling Commission and the regulation of internet gambling are "...necessary and uncontentious", adding that the provisions of the bill relating to land casinos remain highly controversial and have not had proper scrutiny in parliament.'

The iGaming industry was delighted with the news that the UK will regulate online gaming, having been concerned that the bill would not be passed in time. Andrew Tottenham of the Interactive Gaming and Betting Association (IGGBA) said: "The bill will go through unchanged and it looks very, very good. It means a first world jurisdiction will be legalising and regulating remote gambling. It will have enormous implications for the industry worldwide."