In major news announced in late September, one of the world’s leading gambling companies; Bet365 has announced that it is going to relocate its remote gambling operation to Gibraltar. The group employs over 2,000 people and is the largest private employer in the UK city of Stoke-on-Trent.
In a statement from the company,
“As part of the reorganisation, Bet365 is augmenting its existing presence in Gibraltar, a jurisdiction that offers a mature and stable environment for international remote gambling operators…Bet365 will now operate its international betting business under licences granted by the government of Gibraltar…Bet365, which currently holds licenses in various territories including Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Australia, will also continue with its long-standing policy of pursuing licenses in regulated markets and the Bet365 Group, as a whole, remains committed to playing its part in helping to protect the integrity of sport.”
The company will maintain a presence in Stoke on Trent with employees providing various contracted support to the Gibraltar operation and have suggested there will be no redundancies as a result of the relocation.
The firm’s entire global transactional remote gambling business is now located in Gibraltar and makes them the last of the major betting companies to move offshore.
Their announcement comes in a period of uncertainty regarding the UK’s Point of Consumption Tax which was due to be implement on the 1st Oct, 2014 but has been postponed to November. The postponement is due to a request from a judge in a legal case between the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association and the UK Government.
This is potentially the first of a few twists in the UK regulated environment. More to follow, we’re pretty sure of that.
