The UK is missing out on a new wave of gambling tourism that would create thousands of jobs if the government were to adopt a new gambling strategy. The UK’s policy toward Internet gambling will produce little in terms of revenue and will damage the Crown dependencies. The gain is not worth damaging the relationship to friendly neighbours.
Warwick Bartlett, Chief Executive of Global Betting and Gaming Consultants said that the UK Government needs to re-think its policy towards casinos and Internet gambling: “Gambling tourism is a growing trend where people take holidays to go to resorts such as Las Vegas and Macau even though most economies are in recession. Countries such as Singapore, US Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, Armenia, Belize and Cambodia have all adopted a casino policy that is designed to attract gamblers from neighbouring countries to good effect”.
Global Betting and Gaming Consultants (GBGC) research shows that the two giant casinos in Singapore will add two percent to Singapore’s gross domestic product in a full year of operation. The gross gaming yield (what the customer spends) in Turks and Caicos represents nearly five percent of gross domestic product. Add to that the food, beverage and accommodation during the gambler’s stay you can easily see why gambling tourism has become so popular particularly with smaller countries that have an existing tourist industry to supplement.
Bartlett, added: “Native American Indians have or are in the process of transforming their casino assets into leisure resorts that include golf, spas and conference and exhibition facilities.
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The UK has few hotel casinos and is missing out on what has now become a significant boost to a country's tourist industry”.
The same can be said of Internet gambling where smaller off shore islands find difficulty in attracting industry to locate due to transport and carriage expenditure. Internet gambling has kept many people employed in jurisdictions like Gibraltar and Malta. GBGC calculates that the gross gaming yield as a percentage of GDP exceeds 10% in many of the smaller countries whereas in the UK it represents only 1.1%.
Finally, commenting on the proposed changes to the 2005 Gaming Law, Barttlet concluded: “The UK’s proposals to tax Internet gamblers where they reside rather than where they bet would seriously damage the economies of jurisdictions that have hitherto been allies of the UK. Yet the proposals will hardly benefit the UK tax payer at all. I would not have thought the gain would be worth damaging the relationship with friendly jurisdictions”. (E-09.09.11)
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