Poll: Who will win the PoC legal battle?
After the GBGA was granted a judicial review of Great Britain's new regulatory regime, eGR asks who'll be victorious
Next week London’s High Court of Justice will stage a legal battle which, whatever the judgment, is expected to have huge ramifications for the online gambling industry.
In one corner we have the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association (GBGA), an industry body backed by some of Gibraltar’s biggest online gambling operators.
According to the GBGA, Great Britain’s plans to adopt a Point of Consumption regulatory framework should be considered “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.
In the opposite corner is Great Britain’s Gambling Commission and the UK government which both believe the GBGA’s case should be ruled invalid due to its status as a non-EU member state.
The regulator also argues the PoC regime will offer GB consumers additional protections and will enable it to regulate the 85% of the GB-facing industry currently based offshore and outside of its remit.
The GBGA has long argued the measures as “disproportionate” and has, so far unsuccessfully, championed the ‘passporting’ system used in the finance industry.
It is not yet know what impact a successful challenge would have on the government’s plans to implement a 15% Point of Consumption profit tax from 1 December. However, defeat for the GBGA would see the regulatory framework go ahead as planned on 1 October.
With this in mind, for this week’s poll we are asking who you think will be victorious, the GBGA or the regulator and government.
Have your say on the right-hand side of the page.