Page 14 - Layout 1

Gaming
Continued from p12
because Gibraltar has been suffering, particularly since Brexit negotiations began, in obtaining talent and it has left open a number of job opportunities. Without a shadow of doubt, the market will easily absorb every single person wanting to stay,” asserted GBGA’s Foster.
Albert Isola, Minister for Business and responsible for eGaming, insisted: “Gibraltar remains the best jurisdiction in the world from which to do well-regulated, reputable online gamingbusiness”. Twoweeksafterbet365 confirmed its Malta move, Gamesys, a prominent UK-based gaming operator and games developer formed in 2001, launched a new UK sportsbook site, Virgin Bet, that sits alongside fellow group Gibraltar licensees, including Profitable Play and Leisure Spin.
Gibraltar’s eGaming firms today employ around 3,800 people, 300 more than a year earlier) and in total contribute around 25% to the local economy. Minister Isola insisted: “The sector continues to make a very significant contribution to the economy in terms of corporation tax, PAYE and gambling charges and fees.”
Tax changes neutral
Gambling taxes previously were based on Gross Gaining Yield (GGY) - stakes minus payout – at 1% with a £425,000 cap pa that benefitted larger operators; now there’s a more progressive GGY tax rate of only 0.15%, but with no limit.
As a result, in 2018-19, the government found revenue from gaming duty and licences down £1.5m to £12.5 million, but in the current year revenue has been forecast to be £14m, broadly flat year on year. No separate figures are available for the sector’s PAYE and business tax income.
“There continues to be a lot of consolidation in this industry”, Hassans’ Montegriffo noted, but also revealed: “I have evidence of significant private venture capital funds looking to invest in existing gaming operations in Gibraltar and elsewhere; there is still a keen appetite for growth in this area and to chase opportunities as they open up.”
The government believes “there is a major opportunity for operators to expand into Asian markets from Gibraltar” and the review of gambling, now being led by retired Gambling Regulator, Phil Brear, is expected “to build one gold regulatory standard again that is fit for the future”.
No rush to enforce
On the planned introduction of fines for license transgressions rather than revoking them, the Regulator maintained: “Gibraltar, essentially, is a compliance-based regime and we work on the basis of the lowest form of intervention to achieve the objective, which means I don’t want to rush to enforce action – though I couldn’t rule it out.
Through structured site visits to operators, Lyman is discussing standards and identifying areas where improvement is needed. “For example, companies have been very focused on the UK, but international business is also being done from here, not just within the EU, and I need to ensure that similar standards are applied across the entire business,” he said.
GBGA’s Foster commented: “The current regime is a very blunt instrument and we don’t like it as an industry. We believe there’s no point in having rules if nothing happens when they are broken and if we want to build a better regulatory framework then we need reasonable and proportionate enforcement.”
In November, the UK Gambling Commission (GC) revealed nearly £14m in penalty packages will be paid by three online casino companies over failings to put in place effective safeguards to prevent money laundering and keep consumers safe from gambling-related harm.
Gibraltar University is establishing what it hopes will be a world-leading charitable research facility focusing on aspects of Responsible Gambling (RG) with a budget of more than £2m a year funded through an industry levy and also fines.
The GBGA believes that any UK fines paid by Gibraltar-based companies should be given to a Gibraltar RG project to help problem gamblers. The plan is for the University to establish an international RG Centre of Excellence with firms collaborating by providing anonymised data and the research findings shared with all contributors. At present, privacy laws prevent data sharing on individual problem gamblers.
Prof Catherine Bachleda, project leader, explained: “There is a lot of information out there in companies that have their own research programmes, in data held on customer experiences, age profiles, etc. and on what works and what doesn’t.”
£2m for information sharing project Andrea Lazenby, Lottoland’s compliance director, suggested: “In the last year there has been a sea change – a new appetite to collaborate and discuss the agenda for future action in relation to RG. Customers are more savvy today and are asking what we are doing.”
Yet Sarah Hanratty, deputy chief executive of Senet, an independent RG standards UK industry body, maintained: “If there is collaboration, there needs to be tangible change. From my experience with the alcohol industry, [collaboration] needs to be done quickly; it will come about only when industry chief executives meet to give the subject focus.”
Ian Ince, Playtech’s head of regulation and compliance, felt: “Regulators also need to collaborate more on standards required – some have a less generous approach to the industry. Media and public agencies are prompting regulators to take action that is not well researched and with a knee-jerk reaction. The risk is that regulators are more interested in what the Guardian or Daily Mail newspapers are saying, rather than listen to the industry about what really is happening.”
Regulatory difference
Gibraltar and UK gaming authorities have committed to “greater regulatory alignment”, but industry sources in the jurisdiction suggest the stances on regulation and enforcement “are going to stay quite a long way apart”. One source who chose not to be identified, claimed: “It’s very strict in the UK in terms of investigations and not working with the industry, whereas in Gibraltar it’s more a case of working with the industry to find solutions.”
While pointing to a similarity of regulatory approach in the UK and Gibraltar, Lyman (who was involved in the establishment of the UK GC) conceded: “The UK GC works in a difficult political and media environment, as I have found also with other European regulators, and still has been effective in raising regulatory standards.
“There is however, collaboration based on commercial understanding between the Gibraltar regulator and licensees on compliance and policy”, Lyman suggested: “The UK GC will continue to take its approach, but that will not stop me being collaborative in Gibraltar.”
14 Gibraltar International
www.gibraltarinternational.com