UK Government Rumoured To Consider Betting Intervention
Tax-news.com
01 October 1999

The recent move, almost stampede, of British book-makers and gambling operators to open up telephone and Internet betting and gaming operations on the Rock (as well as in some other offshore jurisdictions) has alarmed the Inland Revenue, and rumours have surfaced that the UK Government is considering using the reserve powers embedded in Gibraltar's constitution to interfere in some way. However the precedent isn't encouraging: the last time the powers were used (1955) all the elected members of the Gibraltar Legislative Council resigned, and the Governor was forced into premature retirement shortly afterwards. With a large and growing budget surplus, and after their 'desertion' of Gibraltar's economy in the last 20 years, the UK Government may feel that punishing poor little Gibraltar for its minor economic success could appear as a piece of bullying to the outside world.

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