Gambling Bill set to pass this week

Gambling Bill set to pass this week Insiders predict the UK Gambling Bill will become law this week, but the government will be forced to make major concessions to safeguard the remote gaming section of the bill with just one Las Vegas style land-based casino now expected to be approved. If the bill passes it will introduce a regulated regime for online casino and poker gaming in the UK for the first time. And there is widespread belief that cross-party agreement on the need to regulate the egaming industry had been a deciding factor in forcing the legislation through. The bill has already passed in the House of Commons but it still needs to pass a House of Lords vote, where the government’s opposition has a majority. However, time is running out for the bill with Prime Minister Tony Blair announcing today that Parliament will be dissolved on 11 April to prepare for a general election on May 5. And the pressure to pass the long awaited bill before the 11 April deadline now looks like it has forced the government into backing down from plans for eight so-called supercasinos. If the government is forced into allowing just one supercasino it will be seen as a major political embarrassment, but it will mean the remote gaming sections of the bill survive intact. The government has already made several important changes to the remote gaming section bill, with several key amendments facing a Lords vote this week. One of the most important amendments would allow UK operators to remain members of poker networks, with the government no longer pushing for all egaming equipment to be based in the UK. New amendments will allow the Gambling Commission to take a case by case approach to deciding which items of gambling equipment can be located outside Great Britain. Another series of amendments will allow the government the “flexibility to judge which equipment can be located off-shore”. If the amendments pass it will be a significant victory for the online gaming sector, which has lobbied heavily to get the bill changed.