The Gambling Act 2005 (Advertising of Foreign Gambling) (Amendment) Regulations 2008

Statutory Instruments

2008 No. 19

betting, Gaming and lotteries

The Gambling Act 2005 (Advertising of Foreign Gambling) (Amendment) Regulations 2008

Made

8th January 2008

Laid before Parliament

10th January 2008

Coming into force

31st January 2008

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 331(4) and 355(1) of the Gambling Act 2005(1).

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Gambling Act 2005 (Advertising of Foreign Gambling) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 and shall come into force on 31st January 2008.

(2) In these Regulations “the Act” means the Gambling Act 2005.

Amendment to the Gambling Act 2005 (Advertising of Foreign Gambling) Regulations 2007

2.—(1) The Gambling Act 2005 (Advertising of Foreign Gambling) Regulations 2007(2) shall be amended as follows.

(2) For regulation 2 substitute—

“2.— (1) This regulation specifies for the purposes of subsection (4) of section 331 of the Act (prohibition on the advertising of gambling taking place or originating from a non-EEA State(3)the places which are to be treated for the purposes of subsection (2) of that section as if they were an EEA State, but only in so far as that subsection applies to remote gambling(4).

(2) The places referred to in paragraph (1) are—

(a) the Island of Alderney, and

(b) Tasmania.”

Gerry Sutcliffe

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Culture Media and Sport

8th January 2008

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Gambling Act 2005 (Advertising of Foreign Gambling) Regulations 2007 (referred to in this note as the “Principal Regulations”).

Section 331 of the Gambling Act 2005 (“the Act”) makes it unlawful to advertise foreign gambling other than a lottery (which is dealt with in Part 11 of the Act). Foreign gambling is defined in subsection (2) of section 331. Non-remote gambling constitutes foreign gambling if it takes place in a non-EEA State, and remote gambling constitutes foreign gambling if none of the arrangements for it are subject to the laws of an EEA State. Gibraltar is treated as an EEA State for these purposes. In addition, the Secretary of State may specify that a country or place is to be treated as an EEA State for the purposes of the definition of foreign gambling.

The Principal Regulations specify the places which are to be treated as an EEA State for the purposes of section 331(2) of the Act. Regulation 2 of the Principal Regulations specifies those places which are to be treated as an EEA State for the purposes of section 331(2) of the Act, but only in so far as that subsection applies to remote gambling.

Regulation 2 of these Regulations substitutes regulation 2 of the Principal Regulations. The purpose is to add Tasmania to the list of places which are to be treated as an EEA State for the purposes of section 331(2), but only in so far as that subsection applies to remote gambling. The effect is that any place which is regulated by the gambling laws of Tasmania will be able to advertise their remote gambling services in the United Kingdom without committing an offence under the Act. The section 331 offence will still apply in respect of advertising of non-remote gambling services.

(1)

2005 c.19.

(2)

S.I. 2007/2329.

(3)

For the meaning of “EEA State” see section 353(1) of the Act.

(4)

For the meaning of “remote gambling” see section 4 of the Act.