The new eGambling Licence allows operators a great deal of flexibility as it doesn’t restrict the type and number of gambling activities an operator can run under a single licence, for instance poker, casino games and sports betting and bingo could all be conducted under the single licence. This reflects the growing trend for operators to offer multiple games to their customers.

Following the decision to license Gala Coral, the Commission has a total of 20 Full eGambling licences and 5 Associate Certificates in issue.

Robin Le Prevost, Head of E-Commerce Development for the States of Alderney said that they were delighted with the news and commented “Gala Coral are one of the most respected names in the eGambling industry and we take it as a compliment that they have chosen to acquire a licence from Alderney.”

Robin added “We are currently seeing an unprecedented interest in Alderney with a great many companies at various stages of applying for licences. The recent legislative changes have been well received by the industry and combined with the fiscal benefits and technical infrastructure on offer in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, have cemented Alderney’s position as a leading jurisdiction.”

In July, 2006, the Commission announced that it had conducted a major review and revision of the legislative framework under which it regulates the eGambling industry.

Robin Le Prevost explained: ‘We have over the years, like many other jurisdictions, modified our laws to cater for the very fast changing eGambling industry. But we realised that as those changes began to add layer upon layer there was a danger that the fundamentals could become submerged. The States of Alderney, advised by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, decided to take a radical review of the structure of its entire legislative framework and concluded that a root and branch rewrite was the best way to go forward.’

He continued: ’Whilst we have retained most of the previous provisions in the revised structure and provided for a grandfathering element to cater for our existing licensees and certificate holders, we have made many changes which we expect will find great favour with the industry. Firstly and importantly, we have created a single eGambling licence which caters for all activities and is transparent from a technological perspective. Whether you are a casino, poker room, lottery or a Sportsbook, and increasingly operators provide their customers with one or more of the above and no
matter how you operate whether solely on the Internet, mobile or any other medium it can now all be done under a single licence for one single licence fee for an all inclusive fee of £70,000 per annum.

'Secondly, all provisions related to ongoing operations of licensees, which were previously contained in the Ordinances and which required Government approval to be amended, have been dropped down into Regulations, which is administered by the Commission. This implies that, any changes required because of market and technical forces can be affected quickly and pragmatically. In doing so, we also took a good hard look at all the checks, balances and processes we have currently and many have been simplified and modified to make them less burdensome.

'Thirdly we have introduced a new type of licence, termed a Restricted Use eGambling Licence. Rather than go down the prescriptive and narrow route of Disaster Recovery legislation we have brought in the ability to grant Restricted Use licences for those operators who want to operate a mirrored site from within the jurisdiction, while primarily operating elsewhere in the world. The terms for this licence are identical to that required for the Full eGambling licence so as to ensure that we do not compromise our standards and quality of licensees but there are major concessions on the fee and the need to incorporate an Alderney Company. The effect of this licence is that the operator can utilise his equipment hosted in the jurisdiction whenever required and for whatever purpose in exchange for a daily fee. Should the operator decide to operate from the jurisdiction for an extended period of time, they can simply and swiftly turn the Restricted Use eGambling Licence into a Full eGambling Licence and of course switch to the annual licences fee basis.

'We are absolutely confident that without compromising the global respect the jurisdiction has justifiably earned over the last 5 years, these steps create a business friendly environment second to none and when seen in conjunction with the absence of all gambling and gaming taxes and duties and extremely low corporate taxes and no sales taxes we shall extend our advantage even further.’