Antigua And Barbuda Surprised At UK's White Listing Decision

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

21 January 2008

The government of Antigua and Barbuda has expressed surprise and disappointment at the UK government's recent decision to leave the Caribbean jurisdiction off of its e-gaming 'white list,' preventing operators there from advertising their services in Britain.

In a low-key announcement earlier in the month, James Purnell, the UK government's Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, confirmed that the Australian state of Tasmania was the only new territory to be admitted to the white list, following amendments to its tax legislation. Antigua and the Canadian reservation of Kahnawáke on the other hand, failed to make the list after "careful assessment of their representations against the published criteria", Purnell added.

"We are somewhat taken aback by this announcement," Kaye McDonald, Antigua's Director of Gaming, responded. "Our country has extensive experience in the supervision of remote gambling."

She added that the decision was all the more surprising because Antigua had been working with the UK government over the past few months to "sort out our few remaining issues" and had been fully expecting the UK to endorse its e-gaming regulatory regime.

"Under the circumstances one would consider this announcement premature," commented Errol Cort, Minister of Finance and the Economy, who is set to lead a delegation to the UK shortly to take up the issue with the Culture, Media and Sport department.

New powers contained in the UK Gambling Act 2005 banned gambling adverts from companies operating outside the European Economic Area (EEA). The move meant that some popular gaming websites have been unable to advertise in the UK since September 1st 2007, when the Gambling Act came into force.

The EEA comprises all member states of the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. In this case, it also includes Gibraltar.

Last year, independent research suggested there were around 2,300 gambling websites worldwide. Antigua was considered to have the largest number with around 537 sites, followed by Costa Rica (474), Kahnawake (Canadian Reservation) (401) and the Netherlands Antilles (343).

Only the Channel Island of Alderney and the Isle of Man were able to demonstrate that they had in place a rigorous licensing regime designed to stop children gambling, protect vulnerable people, keep games fair and keep out crime.

Jurisdictions which wanted to be exempt from the ad ban had to pass a stringent assessment of their regulatory standards, including the ability to demonstrate that they adhere to fair tax principles, in particular, openness, equal availability and equal treatment.

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