GBGA Takes on UK Gambling Bill Point of Consumption Tax

Scales of Justice: The GBGA launches an extra legal challenge, this time up against the point of consumption income tax.
The Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association (GBGA) has launched a challenge that is second the new UK Gambling Bill, AKA the Gambling (Licensing & Advertising) Act, having seen its initial challenge trashed of London High Court real-money-casino.club earlier into the month.
As the company’s first challenge contested the Act it self, the demand that is new a judicial review focuses solely regarding the new point of consumption tax, which, as being a income tax issue rather than a licensing problem, has been going through separate legal procedures.
The purpose of consumption tax will introduce a 15 percent duty on all gambling operators that want to interact aided by the British market, each of whom must additionally be licensed and regulated in the united kingdom.
Once more, the GBGA will argue that the legislation is unlawful and that the purpose of consumption income tax breaches Article 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which deals with the movement that is free of across borders between EU member states.
Rogue Operators
‘This tax is a restriction on the provisions of solutions,’ said the GBGA. ‘There are no equivalent precedents for the British federal Government seeking to tax entities abroad in respect of the supply of solutions into great britain without going through the appropriate route of seeking harmonization through the EU. This might be incompatible with Article 56.’
The GBGA disputes the assertion by the united kingdom government that the new tax regime is a means to protect clients, arguing that instead it’s going to drive UK citizens towards ‘rogue operators.’
‘If responsible foreign operators are forced to raise prices (i.e., offer less favourable odds or perhaps a rake that is high, it is inescapable that many consumers will proceed to companies with no regulation and reduced overheads,’ it stated. ‘Rogue operators will be beyond reach of UK law and customers will face increased risks of fraud, non-payment and abuse.’
Smoking Gun
The association also contends that its place against the tax is stronger as a result of the High Court judgment this month. For a member that is eu to restrict trade and be in breach of Article 56, it must have quite sound reasons for doing so. And while Judge Justice Green rejected the GBGA’s arguments against the new licensing laws, he reported that the swelling of government coffers are not a justified reason to breach Article 56. This, the GBGA hopes, is the smoking gun. Then the only reason for the tax is to increase revenue, rendering it illegal, the GBGA will argue if the assertion is flawed that the new regime is to protect the customer.
‘The fact is that this tax regime has no genuine purpose,’ said the GBGA. ‘Moreover, the taxation is discriminatory. European law supports our position. The us government says this tax ensures ‘respect for fiscal sovereignty’ and is required for the ‘coherence of British taxation authority’. We believe this means their real aim is to make sure that UK operators in the forex market are favored, at the expense of law-abiding and responsible operators outside of the UK.’
South African Gambling Board Suspended for Corruption
South Trade that is african and Minister Rob Davies, whom suspend the united states’s entire gambling authority pending an investigation into numerous corruption costs. (Image: Trevor Samson/bdlive.co.za).
The entire South African Gambling Board has been suspended for being an so-called hotbed of corruption, mismanagement and wasteful spending, according to the country’s trade and industry minister, Rob Davies.
Davies relieved the National Gambling Board of South Africa (NGB) of its authority month that is last although the reasons for the move were not made clear until last Friday, when the minister explained their decision in a letter to Parliament’s Trade and Industry Portfolio Committee.
Each of whom are personally appointed by Davies, is the failure to ‘prevent irregular, fruitless and wasteful spending, and making overdraft on the entity’s bank account minus the approval associated with the minister of finance. among the list of allegations against the members of the board’
According to Alliance Member that is democratic of Dean Macpherson, board members had allegedly ‘increased their own remuneration by a staggering 46 % in the 2013/14 period.’ The body that is regulatory R2.7 million, or almost $250,000, on travel during the period of the year, including more than $150,000 while attending a conference in Norway.
We didn’t know there had been even that much enjoyable to be had in Norway.
Whistleblower
Furthermore, the board, ‘acting either individually or jointly,’ had allowed ‘members whoever term of workplace had expired to keep participating in the board’s activities and representing the NGB,’ a breach regarding the National Gambling Act. The indiscretions that are alleged brought to the minister’s attention by the Auditor General.
However, Davies told the committee which he had also gotten a tip-off from the whistleblower who disclosed ‘alleged corrupt activities about the nationwide Central Electronic Monitoring System’ and the ‘unlawful appointments of staff.’ The whistleblower had also revealed a culture of what the minister described, oddly, as ‘intimidation/bullying/disregard of constitution/witch-hunt’, aswell as alleged ‘theft of evidential material.’
Davies said the suspensions had been ‘cautionary’ pending a ‘forensic investigation’ into the allegations. ‘[This] will mainly cover the assets associated with National Gambling Board, and the minister in addition has appointed two administrators to oversee the day to day assess of the National Gambling Board,’ said a spokesperson. ‘ We are able to say how long this will take.’ [sic]
The opposition Alliance that is democratic said would be asking Parliament when the investigation is probably to be completed and would demand that criminal charges are brought against anyone who has acted illegally.
Southern Africa’s Gambling Landscape
South Africa has a thriving casino that is land-based, with resorts like Sol Kerzer’s Sun City; a mammoth resort that was actually declared a completely independent state throughout the apartheid regime (a concession that allowed it to hold topless revue demonstrates were banned elsewhere in Southern Africa). Gross gambling income for 2013-14 was $1.9 billion for the country that is entire with more than 75 percent of that coming from the land-based casino industry, and the federal government benefited from $190 million in tax revenue.
While activities wagering may be the only type of online gambling that happens to be legal in South Africa, the Trade and Industry Portfolio Committee is mulling over a draft gambling bill that would totally open the market up, allowing provincial licensing authorities to issue as many remote gambling licenses because they want. However, with the apparent intransigence of the ruling ANC on the matter, and the entire gambling commission suspended, don’t expect this to happen anytime quickly.
New Jersey Mafia Bust Proof that Sports Betting Needs Oversight, Says State AG
Acting New Jersey Attorney General John J. Hoffman states the Genovese Mafia band was bringing in $1.7 million per year from illegal recreations betting ops. (Image: Don Smith/northjersey.com)
A New Jersey Mafia breasts supports the idea that activities betting into the Garden State has to be legalized to keep criminal elements out, according to the state’s Acting Attorney General, John J. Hoffman.
Speaking at a press conference in Newark this week, Hoffman said that the recent split up of a sports betting and loan-sharking procedure run by the notorious Genovese crime family highlights the need for activities betting to be dragged ‘out of this shadows.’
‘We have talked before at length about among the primary efforts in our activities betting journey that we have been on is to try to bring it from the black colored market shadows,’ said Hoffman. ‘The Mafia, the crime that is organized controlled shadows. And this is exactly where it’s happening.’
His words echo those of previous New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne, the man who signed casino gambling into law in the state, who saw the implementation of rigorous gambling regulation as part of the fight against the New Jersey Mob, famously warning the Mafia to keep its ‘filthy hands off Atlantic City.’
Multimillion Dollar Mafia Operation
Incumbent Governor Chris Christie the other day approved a law that will permit sports wagering in New Jersey at casinos and racetracks. Currently only four US states, Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon, are able to provide activities betting lawfully under federal law. The Protection and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) makes it a criminal offense elsewhere in the US; nevertheless, Christie’s legislation seeks to repeal the prohibition, effectively decriminalizing sports wagering within hawaii, which lawmakers see as an easy way a of revitalizing nj’s lagging economy.
New York Harbor Waterfront Commissioner Michael Murphy told the press that is assembled the Mafia operation was in fact bringing in as much as $1.7 million a year from sports betting alone. The ring, it is thought, have been orchestrated by Vincent Coppola, the son that is 37-year-old of Genovese capo Michael ‘Mikey Cigars’ Coppola. Murphy said that Coppola used a wire room in Costa Rica to process gambling transactions, while his henchmen in New Jersey vetted new business and enforced collections of gambling debts. While 11 people were arrested for involvement in the ring, Coppola remains in particular.
Prohibition No Longer Working
‘ As soon as the mafia, whenever organized criminal activity, takes over and makes cash on illegal gambling, where does it go?’ asked Murphy. ‘It does not go to property income tax relief, it doesn’t visit senior citizens, and Medicare or prescription programs. It goes to money laundering, it visits the importation of heroin, and there are young ones dying today in nj-new jersey because of this,’ Murphy said.
Murphy also drew a parallel between the outlawing of activities betting and that of alcohol during the Prohibition era, which inadvertently allowed the Mafia to flourish through bootlegging operations. ‘People drink and people gamble,’ he stated. ‘Some associated with families that are still engaged in orderly crime today, a few generations ago enjoyed enormous profits during a time when drinking was unlawful.’
However, it seems that not everybody in nj-new jersey is persuaded by the arguments against the prohibition of sports gambling. A poll this week conducted by Rutgers-Eagleton revealed that while legalization is broadly supported by some 44 percent of New Jerseyans, another 31 percent said they thought it might make no distinction, while 17 % were staunchly against it.
