PoC legal battle, day one: GBGA makes its case
The GBGA's legal team gets the two-day judicial review underway as Dinah Rose QC describes the new regime as "discriminatory"
The Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association yesterday laid out its case against Great Britain’s looming Point of Consumption (PoC) regulatory regime as the two-day judicial review got underway at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.
In her opening statement before Lord Justice Green, Dinah Rose QC said the new framework, which is due to start on 1 October, was a competition issue “dressed up” as a consumer protection measure.
Quoting from announcements made by both the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Gambling Commission, Rose QC said it was clear the framework’s intention had always been to secure “a fair deal” and “level the playing field” for British-based operators.
“The underlying purpose is as a disincentive to companies to stay offshore,” Rose QC told Lord Justice Green.
The Blackstone Chambers QC went on to argue that even if the Act had been about consumer protection, the defendants had failed to provide any evidence of consumer harm despite a surge in online gambling in Great Britain since 2007.
Rose QC also explained that increased regulatory costs could impact the size of odds and prices offered by licensed operators thus placing unlicensed operators in an advantageous position to attract the “sophisticated and price sensitive” British consumers.
“Its effect is to increase the burden on operators in well regulated jurisdictions who will be subject to a double levy of regulation,” she said.
However, Lord Justice Green failed to be swayed by an argument he said was “based on a series of assumptions” with it impossible to determine exactly how the costs would impact operators.
Rose QC later made the case for the “less onerous” passporting regime, one which she said had failed to be understood by the DCMS and had been rejected “irrationally”.
“The Gambling Commission is less well placed to regulate than the local regulator on the ground,” Rose QC said. “It wants all companies to carry its logo on their websites as a mark of quality but there are serious deficiencies in the powers, capabilities and resources of the Gambling Commission.”
“The new licensing regime is discriminatory,” she added. “Its obligations ignore effective local regimes, creating a competitive disadvantage for well regulated companies outside of the UK.”
The judicial review enters its final day today where the DCMS’s legal team of Kieron Beal QC of Blackstone Chambers and Oliver Jones of Brick Court, instructed by Treasury solicitors, is due to get the day underway.