GBGA gives UK Government 14-day notice of legal action
Industry association formally requests the Government reviews the Gambling Bill calling it "unlawful" and "unworkable"
The Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association (GBGA) has today given the UK Government and Gambling Commission 14 days in which to respond to its request that the Gambling Bill undergoes an urgent review pending legal action, eGaming Review can reveal.
The GBGA, which boasts 20-plus members, said a failure to respond in the timeframe given will leave it little option but to take the matter to the courts and claim a judicial review of the Bill.
The GBGA has long been critical of the regulatory framework, which was passed into law on 15 May and sets out to regulate and license the online gambling industry on a point of consumption basis.
And in a letter today sent to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Sajid Javid MP, the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC MP and the Gambling Commission, the GBGA laid out its case for a review of a Bill it described as being both “unlawful” and “unworkable”.
The GBGA has instructed law firm Olswang to lead its fight against the new framework and Olswang partner Dan Tench said the regime falls foul of European law.
“The Government announced that this law was introduced with the express intention of addressing concerns it said it had about the protection of consumers,” Tench said.
“The measures introduced through this Act are neither reasonable nor proportionate to achieving that goal and are likely to have adverse consequences for consumers.
“All this Act achieves is a wholly unjustified, disproportionate and discriminatory interference with the right to free movement of services, a right enshrined in European Law.
“For these reasons the Government must reconsider this law or we shall have no option but to ask the courts to review it for them,” he warned.
The GBGA also argued the Government rejected its proposal of a ‘passporting’ system with little consideration while the Bill was also unnecessary due to Gibraltar having “one of the most effective regulators in the world”.
“We know of no precedent where any regulator in any industry will be granted the role of licensing and regulating operators all over the world in this way, threatening to criminalise companies and people who fail to submit to its regime,” Peter Howitt, chief executive of the GBGA, argued.
“The likely impact of this legislation will be to drive UK consumers towards unregulated or poorly regulated operators, leaving them exposed to unnecessary risks,” he added.
A Gambling Commission spokesman said: “We can confirm we have received a letter on behalf of the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association. We will respond to that letter in due course.”
The new regulatory regime, should it go ahead, will be coupled with a 15% point of consumption tax on operators’ UK-derived profits from 1 December.