Remote Gambling

Monday 18th July 2011 Written Statements

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Justine Greening)]

On Thursday 14 July, the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose), who is responsible for tourism and heritage, announced that he proposes that the Gambling Act should be amended so that remote gambling is regulated on a point of consumption basis. Under this proposal all operators, whether from here or abroad, will be required to hold a Gambling Commission licence to enable them to transact with British consumers. I will review the case for changing the taxation regime in line with my hon. Friend’s proposal and taxing operators on the basis of customer location.

Separately, other countries are also changing both their regulatory and taxation regimes for remote gambling. I will consider the tax implications of these developments. In particular, I will consider ways to prevent operators in the UK being subject to double taxation on remote gambling in the shorter-term.