Online gambling regulation
There are various organisations which regulate, claim to regulate or offer regulation for the online gambling industry. Most
are ineffectual shams, but a handful are genuine governmental organisations which are accountable to their respective heads
of state, and are therefore required to be independent, fair and unbiased.
•
UK Gambling Commission
•
Gibraltar Regulatory Authority
•
Alderney Gambling Control Commission
•
Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority
•
Isle Of Man Gambling Supervision Commission
The Commission was established in 2005, and
in 2007 its remit was extended to include online casinos, under the umbrella of "
remote gambling", covering all gambling
activities indulged in "remotely", via computer, television, mobile phone etc.
Unfortunately for the offshore online gambling industry, the taxes imposed by the Chalcellor of the Exchequer, in the
2007 budget,
on offshore operations locating or relocating to the UK were set at the top level of fifteen percent - see page 171 of
the
BBC budget notes.
This has made it extremely unlikely that any operations currently residing in the "lesser" locations of Gibraltar or Malta
will relocate to the UK, and the Commission currently has a relatively few number of online gambling operations under its
wing - see the full list of
remote gambling licenses.
If and when more currently offshore operations relocate to the Commission's jurisdiction, the
complaints procedure may become relevant.
The legislation the Gambling Commission is based on is the
Gambling Act 2005.
See alternatively the
Gambling Act 2005 PDF version.
The GRA regulates all businesses located in Gibraltar, a fundementally Spanish territory under UK sovereign
jurisdiction and, as such, the last outpost of the British Empire.
There are twenty gambling operations with a
remote gambling license,
with website and physical addresses all neatly listed.
The GRA has possibly the most thorough and clearly presented procedure for dealing with player problems of any of the genuine
governmental regulatory bodies: if you have a problem with an online operation within their jurisdiction, first read the
complaint resolution procedure, then complete the
complaint resolution request form.
The form is a PDF file and cannot be copied, only printed. For a text version of the form, see the
Gibraltar Regulatory Authority complaint form page.
The legislation upon which a Gibraltar license is based comes in the form of the
2005 Gambling Act; a rather notable
omission is any requirement to actually pay the player! However, the complaint form does not require that a complaint be
based on a specific breach of the legislation.
The Gibraltar online gambling regulatory regime's thoroughness and clarity could well be adopted as a model for all other
such enterprises.
The AGC was appointed by the
government of Alderney in 2000 to oversee gambling operations within its
jurisdiction - see the
Alderney government ecommerce page for more
details.
The commission is non-political and therefore not a governmental department, but it works in association with the government
and regulates gambling on behalf of the state.
The operations within their jurisdiction can be viewed on the
full egambling licenees
page.
If you have a complaint with an Alderney licensee, the various stages of the procedure are outlined on the
complaints' procedure page. The
2006 Alderney egambling regulations document contains all the
relevant regulations, and possibly the most important one, 334 (3), states as follows:

...which is a convoluted way of saying "the casino must pay the player".
The commission, although outlining the complaint procedure in detail, appears to have neglected to say exactly who should be
contacted in the event of a dispute; the
Alderney contact page, however, lists an email address and
phone number.
The LGA is a governmental body appointed by the
minsitry of finance, responsible for overseeing all
Maltese gambling operations and comprising a chairman, his deputy and four other members.
A full list of the operations that come under the LGA's wing can be found on the
authorised remote gaming operators page.
The conduct of the Malta-authorised operators is laid out in the
2004 Remote Gaming Regulations;
the act contains some gratifyingly clear language regarding licensees' required treatment of players.
Part III / 13 / 1 / h states:

Part VIII / 37 / 1 states as follows:
...which is a convoluted way of saying that payments must be made to players within five working days.
There is nothing as detailed as the Gibraltar regime has for the procedure of filing a complaint, but the
contact page has a "complaints" listing in the dropdown menu, along
with contact phone number and address.
The Gambling Supervision Commission was set up in
1962 by the government, and its remit now extends to online gambling operations located on the island.
The commission has a relatively small number of
licensees under its wing.
Amongst its functions in the "
player protection" department is the
"investigation of complaints", although they don't offer any contact details beyond the rather sketchy
contact page.
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