UK affiliates potentially in breach of the law

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

UK affiliates potentially in breach of the law

The Gambling Act 2005 set the stage for a new regulatory structure for all aspects of gambling in the UK, including online gambling. Having studied it fairly superficially I had assumed that the legislation applied only to operators; however, the advertising section recently caught my eye, and in particular the sub-section on foreign gambling:

331

Foreign gambling .

(1) A person commits an offence if he advertises foreign gambling other than a lottery.

(2) In this section “foreign gambling” means -

(a) non-remote gambling which is to take place in a non-EEA State, and

(b) remote gambling none of the arrangements for which are subject to the law about gambling of an EEA State (whether by being regulated, exempted, prohibited or otherwise).

(3) Subsection (2) shall apply to Gibraltar as it applies to EEA States.

(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide that a specified country or place is to be treated for the purposes of subsection (2) as if it were an EEA State.

(5) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable on summary conviction to -

(a) imprisonment for a term not exceeding 51 weeks,

(b) a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or

(c) both.

As such, if you're resident in the United Kingdom and you advertise casinos that fall outside the EEA or that are not included in the Gambling Commission's "white list" of non-EEA countries which are considered by the Commission "...as if they were an EEA State", you commit an offence punishable with a custodial sentence.

My take on this is that any law which makes it harder to advertise unadulerated junk is a good thing, and there are many casinos located on the territories of Kahnawake, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles and Costa Rica that the gambling public would be well served by keeping at a comfortable arm's length.

The problem is that for all the junk located outside the EEA there is just as much, if not more, inside it - the Malta LGA is an industry-wide joke, and how the Caribbean island of Antigua & Barbuda made the white list ranks as the eighth wonder of the world as far as I'm concerned.

It's also unlikely that this law will ever be enforced, as it would likely be a herculean task to establish the ownership of a site that was advertising illegally.

Here is a list of casinos whose promotion on the part of UK-based affiliates would, for what it's worth, represent an illegal act. The list is not at all exhaustive, but includes many heavily-promoted casinos which could be problematic for many affiliates:

Microgaming:

All Jackpots
All Slots
Aztec Riches
Blackjack Ballroom
Captain Cook's Casino
Casino Classic
Casino Kingdom
Casino Lavida
Casino Share
Challenge Casino
Colosseum Casino
First Web
Golden Reef Casino
Golden Tiger Casino
Grand Hotel
Grand Mondial
Lucky Emperor Casino
Music Hall Casino
Nostalgia Casino
Phonecian Casino
Red Flush
Rich Reels
Royal Joker
Strike It Lucky Casino
UK Casino Club
Vegas 7
Vegas Country
Vegas Joker
Vegas Slot
Villento
Virtual City Casino
Yukon Gold Casino
Zodiac Casino

Realtime Gaming:

Aladdin's Gold
All Star Slots
Captain Jack
Casino Titan
Casino Peru
Catseye
Cherry Red
Cirrus
Club Player
Club World
Cool Cat
Goldstream
iNetbet
Intertops
Jackpot Capital
King Solomons
Las Vegas USA
Lock Casino
Lucky Red
Manhattan Slots
One Club Casino
Palace Of Chance
Pharaohs Gold
Planet 7
Royal Ace
Rushmore
Silver Oak
Slotastic
Slots Oasis
Slots Plus
Sun Palace
Vegas Casino Online
Virtual

Rival:

BetUS
Club Vegas USA
Cocoa
Da Vinci's Gold
Fortune Reel
Gold Rock
Irish Luck
Lion Slots
Mayan Fortune
Pantasia Casino
Paradise 8
Rockbet Online
Ruby Royal
Simon Says
Sloto Cash
SlotPower
Slots of Fortune
Superior
This is Vegas
Vegas Regal
Vegas Sky

Playtech:

African Palace
Casino Plex
City Club
Crown Europe
Indio Casino
Golden Palace

Others:

3 Dice
Sunset Casino

Permalink | Reply (3) |

3 Previous Comments

That's an interesting twist. Good article my friend!

By The Gambling Gurus, at 3:41 am

Thanks for the list (yeah, I know I got to it late).

It all sounds worrying at first but as mentioned in the article, I'd be surprised to see it ever become an issue for affiliates.

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By Anonymous, at 10:59 am