British Blogger Comments on Government

The United Kingdom government had recently made public threats to online casinos who did not voluntarily give the Responsibility in Gambling Trust money in order to fulfill their obligations to responsible gambling causes. Because the online casinos did not fulfill their end of the deal, the government is taking action and trying to make it mandatory for online casinos of different tiers to give a predetermined amount according to the size of their website. The British political blog, The Guardian, recently wrote up an article that pointed out why the payments may have been slow from online casinos and gambling firms in the United Kingdom.

The author of the article is Andrew Sparrow said in his blog that the government was the one who left the door open for the British gambling institutions to brig in the deficit of GBP 1.2 million before actually making it mandatory for booking firms and online casinos to throw in the desired cash. He also pointed out that the gambling institutions in question have donated money to anti gambling addiction charities voluntarily, and they have been doing so for years. Where the problem lies is that the online casino and gambling industries were not making their donations in a timely manner. This may be why there is such a big hoopla according to Sparrow.

One of the United Kingdom’s most ‘liberal’ Democrats, Don Foster, spoke out on the issue and said that the government has not been quiet and has indeed issued the online casino and bookkeeping industries warnings for the past five years. The Gambling Act was a draft bill in 2003 which did not pass at the time mostly because the culture secretary of the time, Tessa Jowell, did not believe in making it mantitory for online casinos to have to donate money but then added, “but I won’t flinch from doing so if I must.” So it is arguable that the online gambling businesses of the United Kingdom should not be surprised by the recent implications that they may have to pay up for failure of not paying to begin with.