It has been a long time coming, but the end of 2014 is now in sight when new Parliamentary regulations in the UK will change for online gambling firms. First of October is D-Day!! The online gambling industry is turmoil over the decision made for all offshore licensees to apply for a secondary license to offer services to UK residents, as well as be liable to pay 15% tax. All these many years companies such as William Hill – just for example – have been operating out of Gibraltar and other White Listed "British" territories, just to avoid having to pay such heavy tax.

Gaming firms are now compelled to announce plans to stop offering services to UK-facing resident, or adjust what they offer inside British borders. This bill – the U. K. Gambling, License and Advertising Bill, was passed in May. It will effect Online bingo websites, casinos, pokers rooms, lottery sales, you name it – any gambling activity. Already several popular websites have pulled out, announced plans to pull out of the market, or substantially altered what they are able to offer to the UK public.

How these businesses can possibly expect European only operations to fill their coffers without the player-base of millions of British players, we have no idea. But they are obviously willing to take the risk. Gambling is after all a high risk industry for everyone concerned. One of the first to make an announcement was Mansion Poker, who intends to withdraw completely. Reasons for the withdrawal have been attributed to the new regulations, and all members have been advised to withdraw their bankrolls. These members have also been encouraged to switch to Titanbet Poker, where their loyalty points will be transferred. Pokerstars on the flip side of the coin, are opening a dedicated UK-facing poker site.

We believe this might just be the first in an exodus list of firms to take the same decision. However, but the same token Best of Breed British firms such as Paddy Power, William Hill, Ladbrokes, 888, Foxy, and many more would never be able to take such a risk. We believe they are going to have to thank their lucky stars for the tax break they have enjoyed for such a long time, and bite-the-bullet.

This is not a nationalization exercise – everyone, and every other land based business has to pay tax, and unfortunately these businesses should be made to pay too. There are going to be some interesting times in the online gambling industry for the next few years.

NetEnt, Net Entertainment NE AB (publ) has signed an agreement with UK focused operator Betfair which is one of the world’s largest international online sports betting providers.

Founded in 1999 Betfair is a pioneer within online gaming holding gambling licenses in Gibraltar, Malta, Spain, Italy, the United States and Australia. Betfair’s revenues amounted to £387m in 2013 and the company has more than 950,000 active customers.

"We are very excited that Betfair has selected us as a partner and I wish them a warm welcome as a customer. This agreement will further strengthen NetEnt’s exposure on the UK market but also in other parts of Europe." comments Björn Krantz, Managing Director in Net Entertainment Malta Ltd.

Multi- millionaires and even multi- billionaires have been made by the online gambling industry, and here we do no refer to players who have won big money. Although more than a few online multi-millionaires have been made when playing these games, the real winners are the people who dared to take a gamble, and offer casinos, bingo clubs, poker rooms, and sports-betting websites online.

Social gaming is a category that has long been popular online, but this popularity has recently expanded in to the online gambling arena. Basically this means that gambling-type games are being played on social media websites, and social media gaming designers are delving into the gambling genre. One of the latest of these social gaming developers – Playtika – has joined in the fray.

This Tel Aviv based developer is not to be confused with Playtech, also an Israeli-based online gambling game developer. Playtika aims to allow fans of their games a taste of what it might be like to enjoy gambling online, but at this point only for fun. In other words games will be developed in demo” mode where real money is not exchanged!

They are already creators of some of the most widely played social gaming titles – over five million people play these games daily – from one-hundred and ninety countries. Their online video slot title – Slotomania – is the current jewel I n the crown – introduced in 2010. It became an almost immediate hit, and immediately a big hit with web-based gaming enthusiasts. Its execution was soremarkable that Interactive Entertainment giant Caesar’s snapped it up just one year later. They became a 51% shareholder of the company in 2011, and we all know how big Caesar’s is.

Despite the fact that Caesar’s is a gambling brand, they are also predominantly a US land gambling brand. There are still currently all kinds of regulatory issues regarding the legality of Internet gambling in this country, so, Playtika, and their new major partner do not offer slots where money is involved. These games are considered to be normal online apps where the player accumulates points to earn virtual rewards.

Obviously there has to be some (rather large) money it in the system, or CIE would have never become involve. So, players effectively enhance their “freemium” gaming experience, by purchasing upgrades, but no player expects to win money. Playtika has essentially become Caesar’s Interactive Entertainments’ lynchpin in the social gaming industry. They even have taken the title of “largest in the world”, away from Zynga.

While we normally concentrate on gambling news from the UK, one of the furthest of the old British Colonial outposts happens to be New Zealand, so, we thought we might share this little snippet with you. The "Green Party" has proposed some rather strange measures to combat what they perceive as problem gambling. The Greens want mandatory gambling limits to be proposed for electronic gaming machines, which we would have to assume, would also include gambling online?

John Key – the Prime Minister understandably responded to this proposal as being completely unrealistic. He also said it is a ‘nice’ idea, but people are people, and it might work in a casino, but games can go to one of thousands of online casinos and gamble away as much as they like from the comfort of their own home.

At least Key, like the Government of the UK, can see that it is impossible to restrict online gambling, because players find ways to get what they want. The best thing to do is regulate this industry, thereafter taxes earned may be used to help problem gamblers who want help. Gambling is not the problem, people are the problem.

The report from Radio New Zealand is actually nothing short of being quite mad. They want the "introduction of pre-commitment cards", and player tracking. Why don’t they just have people micro-chipped, and programmed – its farcical, crazy? These so-called pre-commitment cards would require gamers to insert their spending limit, as well as a time limit, and stick to these. Graeme Ramsay of the NX Problem Gambling Foundation seems to agree. He insists this would be a harm-minimisation measure, rather than recourse for treatment.

Mr Key says it might be a nice idea, but people would find other ways to bet where there are no such limits, like online gambling. While online casinos, bingo room, poker sites, and sports betting facilities have tools for self-exclusion, and or setting time and bankroll limits. The onus is upon the player to activate these. A gambler with a problem, never admits that they are the problem, and will continue to gamble, and blame the gambling facility. It is only when they realise “they” are the problem that help is sought out and given.

Supporters of this proposal, need to take a look at all the other addictions which plague the human and their conditions. Are they going to regulate the amount of beer or booze that can be purchased in a supermarket or bottle store – we doubt it!

It is no secret that the offshore territories of the UK have done really well out of the fact that the offer tax havens to the UK-facing online gambling industry. This applies to Alderney, Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, Malta and recently even the Isle of Jersey, although Jersey seems to have come on board rather Late.

Now that the British Government has been looking for ways to tax online gambling services, rather than making taxation more attractive for existing as well as start-up operator, they are thinking of a point of consumption tax. This seems quite a sensible move, as offshore operators benefit from offering gaming to UK customers, but only paly local license fees and taxes.

The introduction of a point of consumption tax seems ready to go ahead, and should be in place by December 2014. The remote gambling industry are obviously keen to find out how this tax will affect them so, neighbouring gambling jurisdictions need to be thinking ahead regarding these new regulations.

The Economic Development Minister of the Isle of Man’s – John Shimmin – is already rolling-out a new five-year plan of strategy to ensure they keep on top of things. He is quite rightly of the opinion that the sooner they take a pro-active approach, the better off they will be. We have to bear in mind here that the online gambling industry revived the economies of these island states to a great extent. It creates highly paid, highly technical jobs, generates tax income and has seen many professional relocate to be closer to where they work. Their spending stimulates these economies too.

The planned tax regime for 2014 has John Shimmin concerned that with better taxation regulation in place, firms may be tempted to relocated back to the UK. This would mean the Isle of Man (and the others) may lose some of their licensees. It is obvious that they should be prepared for this, and that they should also be able to offer incentives for firms to remain. They have already signed a tax sharing agreement with the UK, and met with the UK Gambling Commission.

Shimmin has guaranteed their support their to e-gaming operators, and confirmed that they fully understand any implications that may affect their regulatory regime. They are still seeking to attract even more new licensees, so, business must be good. Currently big names such as PokerStars, Paddy Power, and the new Full Tilt Poker, amongst others are firmly entrenched in the Isle of Man.