UK Government to introduce secondary licensing regime to secure fair contributions towards the cost of regulation from offshore bookmakers who want to advertise in the UK.
Following the decision of Ladbrokes and William Hill to move their online sportsbooks offshore, the UK Government is planning to recommend a secondary licensing regime for offshore bookmakers to help securing fair contributions towards the cost of regulation as well as ensure offshore bookmakers share information about suspicious betting patterns. A failure to comply could lead to a ban from advertising in the UK.
Several offshore bookmakers are believed to already share information on suspect betting patterns but most of them said they don\’t see how a secondary licensing regime could be put in place.
In Australia, the Northern Territory Government is understood to have forfeited more than $8 million in taxes to stop the 11 online bookmakers who have a local license to relocate to Tasmania, which recently abolished all taxes for online bookies in favour of a flat annual fee of A$256,000. The NT Treasurer Delia Lawrie counteracted by introducing a cap to the amount of tax paid by online bookmakers of A$250,000 a year.
The new tax scheme will provide the Northern Territory Government an estimated $2.75 million a year.
“We would have made nothing if we hadn\’t have moved decisively. Let me be clear about that,” Ms Lawrie told NTnews. “We were facing losing the entire industry from the Territory. They would have gone to Tasmania where they had a taxation regime to attract them.”
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