PoC legal battle set for final ruling this week
Lord Justice Green to hand down judgment on the GBGA's judicial review of Britain's new regime this week
The legal battle over the future of Great Britain’s Point of Consumption regulatory regime is set to reach a conclusion later this week with the judge set to hand down judgment on Friday, eGaming Review can reveal.
The judicial review, which was heard at London’s Royal Courts of Justice a fortnight ago, failed to deliver an immediate verdict, however, after taking additional time to study the evidence, Lord Justice Green’s judgment is to be handed down at 10am on Friday.
The legal challenge, which was brought by the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association (GBGA), has already resulted in a one-month delay to the framework’s original implementation date of 1 October.
The GBGA argued the Gambling Act was “unlawful” and a “restriction on the freedom to provide services” as guaranteed by Article 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
However, the UK government and British Gambling Commission contested this and said the GBGA’s argument should be void due to Gibraltar’s status as a non-EU state while the regulator should have jurisdiction on the 85% of British-facing market currently outside of its remit.
The government also dismissed the GBGA’s claim that the PoC framework “disproportionate” and that a ‘passporting’ system would be a more effective in meeting the regulator’s consumer protection objectives.
A judgement in favour of the GBGA will result in repercussions that will be felt across the whole of the industry, however, should Lord Justice Green rule in favour of the UK government and British Gambling Commission, the regime will go live from 1 November.
The GBGA’s legal efforts has been backed and funded by a number of Gibraltar-based operators such as 888, BetVictor and 32Red, although the likes of bet365, Ladbrokes and William Hill have all distanced themselves from the action.
Defeat for the GBGA is expected to bring an end to its challenge with the industry body unlikely to switch focus and mount a separate legal challenge on the associated 15% PoC gross profit tax set to be applied to all profits derived from customers that normally reside in the UK from 1 December.
Last month, 75% of respondents to an eGR poll felt that the GBGA would be defeated in its attempts to derail the regime.