Article on online gambling/poker in The Economist

[Rampage_Jackson]

Sorry don't have a link for it; just got my print copy of The Economist today. Very good article about how Britian is gaining all the lucrative business in online gambling. They even mention 18 year old Annette winning two million.

[va1halla]

Wonder if our politicians will ever care since it's not their monies anyway. They just keep cruising along serving special interest. Screwing the little guy and running this country deeper into the ground seems to be the status quo.

[laugh]

http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9867876

[Legislurker]

The government's bet on liberalising online gambling is paying off

THEY are neither athletic nor photogenic, but Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, “Barmy” Barny Boatman and Chris Moneymaker are world-famous sports champions, of a sort. All three are among the professional poker players who have gathered in London in recent weeks to play in two of the game's most prestigious tournaments outside America.

On September 17th Annette Obrestad, then an 18-year-old Norwegian, won a £1m ($2m) prize playing in the World Series of Poker. And on September 25th players again took up their cards to take part in the London leg of the European Poker Tour.

Competition among the players is fierce, and colourful. The snakeskin-clad Mr Ulliott, for instance, reportedly trains by making love for five hours at a stretch—“I like to get a woman and wring her out like a flannel,” he told a newspaper—to prepare for playing late into the night. Entertaining as these public contests may be, their main point is to advertise online gambling, a business that Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, a research firm, reckons will amass worldwide revenues of $24 billion in 2012, up from $15 billion in 2006. Britain, and British firms, want to secure the lion's share of it.

New laws which came into force in Britain at the beginning of September allow the creation of licensed internet casinos where people can gamble on games such as poker and blackjack. Until now, gamblers could try their luck at them only on servers located offshore.

The change is aimed squarely at encouraging the development of an internationally competitive internet gambling industry in Britain. The government reckons that online casino operators will be willing to come under the watchful eye of its regulators (and tax collectors) in exchange for more legitimacy with their customers.

A similar approach has already worked with betting firms, which were moving rapidly offshore until the government abolished its tax on wagers in 2001. Since then most British-owned businesses have moved back, and the country is now home to the some of the world's biggest publicly-traded betting firms. Leighton Vaughan Williams of Nottingham Business School reckons the government now garners more from taxing the profits of betting firms than it used to get from taxing the bets directly. And the amount people stake has also increased, from £7 billion in 2001 to an estimated £50 billion this year.

Liberalisation has not proved as damaging to British morals as critics feared. The Gambling Prevalence Survey, released on September 19th, surprised many with its findings, though some contest the figures. Although restrictions have been easing for years, the proportion of problem gamblers in Britain has barely changed since 1999, the survey holds, and, at about 0.6% of adults, it is lower than in more puritanical America. And even the aficionados have their limits. In his blog, Mr (“Devilfish”) Ulliott says: “I was going to play...[a poker contest in Spain], but to be honest with you I really couldn't be bothered this time. Sometimes you just need a break.” With such a demanding training regime, who can blame him?

I was going to post it Friday, but there isn't much new content. Ive been bitching to the editor about their lack of coverage on the WTO side. Its the one magazine that has the staff and expertise to do so. Any other subscribers willing to bombard Micklethwait or however he spells it with me this week?(Use your online login email to write from)

[DeadMoneyDad]

Ty for the post.

[Doom_Switch]

Are there any British poker sites whose servers reside in Britain and are subject to British regulations? I cant find a single one.

[Doom_Switch]

Any British sites with British servers? I thought the market would be flooded with new sites based out of Britain since the UK Gambling Act came into full effect on Sept 1st but I guess not.

[questions]

[ QUOTE ]
Any British sites with British servers? I thought the market would be flooded with new sites based out of Britain since the UK Gambling Act came into full effect on Sept 1st but I guess not.

[/ QUOTE ]

My gut tells me it's a turf thing.

[Bump_Bailey]

sorry for a off topic question, to the op.

is their any content in the print edition not available online?

[DeadMoneyDad]

[ QUOTE ]
Any British sites with British servers? I thought the market would be flooded with new sites based out of Britain since the UK Gambling Act came into full effect on Sept 1st but I guess not.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know how much British taxes have changed since I live there but even then they were outragious, and that was a lifetime ago.

But economically since the EU, there likely isn't any reason to move a server farm to GB. You'd pick the lowest tax rates, lowest capital costs, and best node on the the Internet backbone you could find for the money. After that if you were planning on dealing with the US or any other busibody country a nice non-extradition treaty would be helpful. I think that is why a lot of EU gambling sites are nominally HQ'ed in Malta.

But as always I could be wrong,
in whole or in part,


D$D

[Richas]

This is from Hansard, as of 12 Sept this year so 12 days after licensing possible:
Hansard link Internet gambling applications (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070912/text/70912w0022.htm)
[ QUOTE ]
how many internet gambling companies are registered in the UK. [155314]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department does not collect information on the total number of companies with a connection to internet gambling that may be registered in the UK for various purposes.

However, to date the Gambling Commission has received 146 applications for operating licences that include provision for internet gambling. Of these applications, 77 have been granted, 68 are pending and one has been refused.

[/ QUOTE ]

The tax rate is 15% of gross profit on the company but no tax for players on winnings. Most established companies are likely to stay in EU sites like Malta or the Isle of Mann and so pay less tax. These are allowed to advertise in the UK. Any UK licensed site has to have some servers in the UK as they are subject to inspection to ensure the games are fair this does not prevent offshoring for most of the work, a mirror server is fine.

As for extradition not a problem from the UK to get extradicted the crime has to be a crime in the UK as well as the US.

Unfortunately for US players it is unlikely that US players will be allowed to access UK licensed sites as they have to commit to only dealing with countries where their activities are unambiguously legal.

[Rampage_Jackson]

[ QUOTE ]
sorry for a off topic question, to the op.

is their any content in the print edition not available online?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think it is all available online now, but didn't used to be. I remember trying link someone to a story about a year ago and not being able to do so.

[Legislurker]

You can search the database all you want, but some stuff stays premium content a long time. If you want a certain article PM me and Ill PM you back a CnP.

[Bump_Bailey]

Thanks, I was going to order a subscription a week ago then it seemed that every article was posted on the web for free.

[Legislurker]

Its the last refuge left for people who actually want news and dispassionate coverage of events. Its moved a bit to the left since i started subscribing, but they are pretty open about it. It helps keep me literate as its the only quality writing I encounter on a regular basis.

[DrewOnTilt]

That, and their subtle sense of humor is quite enlightening.

[ QUOTE ]
Competition among the players is fierce, and colourful. The snakeskin-clad Mr Ulliott, for instance, reportedly trains by making love for five hours at a stretch—“I like to get a woman and wring her out like a flannel,” he told a newspaper—to prepare for playing late into the night.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
In his blog, Mr (“Devilfish”) Ulliott says: “I was going to play...[a poker contest in Spain], but to be honest with you I really couldn't be bothered this time. Sometimes you just need a break.” With such a demanding training regime, who can blame him?

[/ QUOTE ]

[Legislurker]

Yes, the satire is priceless. I will read it in my coffeeshop and laugh out loud on a regular basis. Sadly, no one else thinks its funny. or few people.

[smartalecc5]

Economist is a VERY solid magazine.