Online casinos have recently come under heavy taxation in the United Kingdom.  These new taxations are partly a result of wanting more regulation on the online casinos.  British sports leagues are now concerned because the online casinos are seeking offshore locations where the taxes are not as high.  These offshore places cannot impart the same regulations that the United Kingdom has.  Many of the United Kingdom online casinos are planning to move their sports books and online casinos to Gibraltar.  The sports leagues feel that such places like William Hill and Ladbrokes will not be under the UK regulations.  The U.K. online casinos are currently having to inform the state about their players and suspicious betting patterns.  The information shared is not used for anything other than to make sure no illegal activities are going on.

The leagues say the Gambling Act is essential to preventing match fixing and gambling corruption.  The online world for gambling has often been under fire for illegalities.  The internet is harder to regulate, which means it is easy for fraudulent companies to scam individuals.  The sports leagues feel that bookmakers who move beyond the regulations reach could end up with their games being affected.

Hill, Ladbrokes, and other United Kingdom online casino operators are already working to move their systems to Gibraltar.  They have very high taxes right now.  In fact the taxes are ten times what the offshore online casinos pay.  The online casinos just want to find an equitable business location.  These top online casinos have been in business for several years.  They feel they owe their consumers a better place to gamble, not to change how the sports book works.  The online casinos who cannot afford the taxes have to move or close unless they pay out less to their players or try to charge fees.

The English Football Association had to suspend four players due to operations with online casinos.  The UK operators were very open about these players which helped them get caught.  Online casinos don’t have to be as helpful.  The experts say the leagues should not be worried.  There has been international cooperation for the tennis fixes that have gone on.  The leagues have been able to stop the fixed games that were running rampant.  Typically the book is the main area that is affected by criminals.  They try to fix matters in their favor.  Time will have to tell us whether problems will result.