Casinos Do the Math and Move

The Gambling Act, which came into effect late in 2007, has been a brave and wise move for the UK government. Three million English men and women gamble online regularly. It does indeed make little sense to fight against this widely popular practice. The UK government has decided to play along.

But will it see profit from this move? Surely they will, with an entirely new advertising niche created, for example.

So online casino companies will operate in the UK and even participate in the various marketing industries. They seem not to hold any sentiments, however, and do not base their operations in the UK proper.

They even seem to leave the UK and relocate elsewhere.

And it's not for the sunshine, or lack there of. Online casino companies, such as Totesport Casino, which is a branch of government-owned bookies Tote, are doing the simple math and prefer operating from countries that are included in the Gambling Act's whitelist and offer a lower tax than the UK's 15%.

Gambling - responsible gambling - is no doubt encouraged by the Act. But the companies business has no incentives to operate from within the country. The relatively high tax rate set by then Chancellor Gordon Brown, does not compete with Gibraltar and the Channel Islands

The gamblers themselves will not be hurt by this; on the contrary, they will enjoy legitimate and regulated casinos and government protection. But the UK itself was either too greedy or lacked the foresight when it set a high tax on gambling companies.