Gambling News by Gambling Headquarters

The British government plans next week to seek international support for legalized, regulated online gambling, emphasizing a trans-Atlantic difference on the issue after the Bush administration's recent move to outlaw transactions with Internet gambling services. During a conference scheduled for Tuesday at the Royal Ascot racecourse, the British government plans to seek adoption of a broad code of principles on Internet gambling, according to a person briefed on a communiqué prepared by the British delegation. Officials from more than 30 countries are expected to attend, though the U.S. Justice Department has declined to send a representative. In contrast to the United States, where President George W. Bush this month signed into law a bill that bans credit card companies and online payment systems from facilitating Internet bets, Britain last year moved to legalize online gambling. "We believe that tough regulation is a better approach than a free-for-all or prohibition," Anthony Wright, a spokesman for Tessa Jowell, the secretary for culture, media and sport, said Friday. "We will be looking to secure agreement to the principles for international standards of regulation." Wright's comments echo remarks attributed to Jowell that were reported in The Financial Times on Friday. She, too, alluded to the U.S. prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933, saying the move to ban online gambling could lead to the creation of "modern-day speakeasies," driving Internet gambling underground and into the control of criminals. The U.S. Justice Department did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Some analysts say the British move to legalize and regulate online gambling companies could create financial benefits for the government by allowing it to tax companies that move back to Britain from offshore locations like Gibraltar and Costa Rica.

But the stock prices of online gambling companies, several of whose shares are traded in London, fell after congressional passage of the U.S. legislation. America has been the largest market for these companies, though several of them have stopped taking bets from U.S. gamblers.

The person briefed on the proposed communiqué, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the issue, said it was modeled on the principles of the recent British gambling legislation and was aimed at promoting fairness for gamblers, keeping out crime and making sure children and vulnerable people were protected.

The proposal apparently does not address one potentially sensitive area, state control of gambling, over which Britain disagrees with some of its neighbors. Several of the countries scheduled to attend the conference, including France and Germany, have recently moved to protect lucrative state- sponsored gambling monopolies from online competition.