Alderney's New Gaming Regime Approved

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

28 October 2009

The States of Alderney has approved the new eGambling licensing scheme, announced last month.

Chief Executive Officer of the Alderney Gaming Control Commission (AGCC), Andre Wilsenach, commented:

“We are grateful to the Alderney government for the swiftness with which they have dealt with this legislative amendment which means that we can launch the new licensing regime on time, as planned, from January 1, 2010."

"The new licensing scheme will not imply a major change in our regulatory approach but it recognises the fundamental changes that have and are still taking place in the eGambling industry.”

“The new scheme also seeks to make Alderney more compatible with other regulated jurisdictions in the world, specifically Europe, where licensing and the regulation of the business to customer relationship is clearly moving towards the point of consumption."

"Against this background, we already are, and will continue to enter into agreements with regulators in Europe and elsewhere with the objective of facilitating regulatory cooperation and jurisdictional equivalence.”

Head of eCommerce development at the AGCC, Robin Le Prevost, added:

"This new framework was drafted from the outset with not only the interests of the jurisdiction in mind but also operators and other regulated jurisdictions at its very core. We believe we have an important contribution to make to the sector going forward."

"Our first class technical infrastructure, our experience of setting technical standards for gaming specific software backed up by a competitive fiscal regime are all powerful reasons for considering Alderney as a base for conducting eGambling, factors which have already established Alderney as the largest operational base for eGambling in the world.”

“We strongly believe that our reputation as a modern and transparent jurisdiction, which is recognised by many countries throughout the world as well as the OECD, who have white listed Guernsey and Alderney, places the jurisdiction in prime position to build relationships and provide services to the countries within the EU and other parts of the world.”

The new licensing regime is as follows:

• A Category 1 Licence. This licence authorizes the organization of gambling operations, namely the registration and verification of players, the contractual relationship with them, and the management of player funds. Any Alderney-based operator providing gambling services to individual players will be required to have a Category 1 licence. Operators applying for such a licence will be required to do so through an Alderney registered company. The Alderney Category 1 licence complements the use of other (national) licences specifically acquired to gain access to particular territories.
• A Category 2 Licence. This licence authorizes the operational management of a gambling platform located within an approved hosting centre. The holder of a Category 2 licence’s proprietary gambling software is approved and endorsed on their licence. Third-party gambling software operating on an Alderney-licensed platform must be approved and can only be supplied by a holder of a Software Suppliers Certificate (associate certificate). A Category 2 licence will be either resident or non resident. A Category 2 resident licence can only be held by an Alderney-registered company. The non-resident licence will allow the non-resident platform operator to accept players from Alderney “seamlessly” i.e. without the need to warn them of the change of jurisdiction which is otherwise required by Alderney. Any number of locations can be covered by a single non-resident licence. Similarly, operators in Alderney may establish fail-over facilities outside the jurisdiction without further regulatory overhead. Category 1 licensees can freely send their players to Category 2 licensees wherever situated. Other non-certificated platforms may also be accessed but the Category 1 operator must inform their players of
  the change of jurisdiction.
• Temporary Use Licence. For operators outside Alderney who may wish to make short-term use of Alderney’s superior technical infrastructure by establishing a secondary site in an approved hosting centre. Such licences can run under the operator’s primary non-Alderney regulatory system for a period of 30 consecutive days or 60 days in total in any six month period. There is no requirement for the holder to form an Alderney company. Activity in excess of those limits triggers a requirement to acquire the appropriate licence(s) from the AGCC.

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