UK Gambling To Host International Summit
Published: Monday, January 16, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
UK GAMBLING TO HOST MAJOR INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT
Brit politicians worried about criminal infiltration
British politicians and gambling authorities have announced that they plan to host the first international summit on online gaming this year focused on the need to protect children and the industry's potential for criminal infiltration by rogue operators.
The UK Financial Times reports that last year the country became the only industrialised major nation to introduce a regulatory framework for the online gambling industry. It did so through the passage of the Gambling Act in the knowledge that counterparts in the USA continue to oppose the legalisation of online gaming.
The objective now is to ensure that agreed measures are in place to stop children from using online gambling sites and to prevent the possibility of money laundering.
Tessa Jowell, culture minister, said: "This is a global problem and requires a global solution, which is why this summit is important." Jowell's advisers were recently in a clash with the new head of the UK Gaming Commission, Peter Dean over the stringency of its future regulations and oversight of the industry.
The online gambling industry is growing rapidly, with revenues in 2004 of $9.3 billion (GBP 5.25 billion), according to research by Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Global Betting and GamingConsultants, which estimate that this will double by 2008.
Australia, South Africa and New Zealand have privately welcomed the summit following soundings from the British government. Online gambling jurisdictions such as Malta, Costa Rica and Antigua will also be invited.
But it remains unclear whether the US will send representatives. The legality of online gambling is uncertain in the US, even though it is the industry's largest single Internet gambling market, generating at least half of all revenues.
Successive attempts to ban internet betting in the US have failed, in spite of the efforts of Jon Kyl, a Republican senator, who has tried to introduce legislation outlawing the industry.
However, the Department of Justice continues to claim that the provision of online gaming to US residents is a violation of US federal law.
Further details on the summit will be reported as soon as the information is made public.
