Something for UK affiliates to be aware of!

Hi

Recently, I became aware via an affiliate friend of mine, that UK affiliates may unknowingly be promoting brands that aren't "on the UK white list".

Basically, as per the Gambling Act 2005, the UK has a set number of UK approved licencing jurisdictions, they are

Alderney
Antigua
Cyprus
Gibraltar Isle of Man
Malta
Tasmania
United Kingdom and EU/EEA countries

However I became aware of a few jurisdictions, which some brands are licensed by, which the UK do not recognize, which essentially means, we as UK affiliates shouldn't promote them. If we choose to promote them, we are in breach of Section 331 of the Gambling Act 2005, and the punishment is a 51 week prison term.

The main licensing area I discovered which some brands were licensed by was the Kahnawake Comission. It is worth checking who you promote, and if they have a sole licence from a non UK approved territory you leave yourself open to receiving a cease and desist or worse, a jail term.

I used the casino city directory, which shows you which jurisdiction licenses which brand. If a brand has two licences, such as Antigua and Kahawake, I believe that is OK, as the UK would give a thumbs up to the UK approved territory.

Certainly something to check, as I am aware of at least two affiliates who received cease and desist letters, from what I gather the UK Government is clamping down hard on this at the moment!

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission as a sole licence would go against the Gambling Act of 2005. If the operator has a secondary licence in a "whitelisted" jurisdiction, then they are OK with respect to the Gambling Act of 2005.

I don't believe Cyprus has a legitimate "online gambling licence". If they do, it is news to me.

I think Cyprus is OK, literature seems to suggest that licences from Eu countries are approved jurisdictions. Although I am NOT legal representative.

You're right with what you're saying that they are OK if they have dual licences, one being a UK approved jurisdiction, the other perhaps not being.

I'm Not a legal rep either. Anything I've ever been able to find on Cyprus is that they explored the possibility of becoming a licensing hub (for online gambling) but fell short due to legislative issues.

They did pass the Betting Act 2012, but that does not grant authority to licence/regulate online gambling sites. From what I gathered, they allow/regulate a monopoly for sports betting but nothing worthy of EU/UK White Listing.

Most of my sites are not .co.uk, or hosted in the UK, so attract worldwide visitors - as a result, I geo-target my ads so that UK visitors only ever see casinos that are on the UK white list.

Hopefully, that suffices, as far as regulations go?

Does anyone have a link to a decent resource that explains the situation for UK Webmasters in Leyman's terms? It would be good to confirm that what I am doing is actually the right thing to do, with regard to the regulations...

Here's information straight from the horse's mouth.

Thanks Shay,

I'd still be interested if anyone has anything slightly more 'digestible' than the official gambling commission site - i.e. something written specifically for webmasters, portal owners, small sole trader affiliates...

I've never heard of any action being taken on this.

Although that's not to say that they wont - do you have any more info you can provide on the C&D letters you mentioned?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by baldidiot

I've never heard of any action being taken on this.

Although that's not to say that they wont - do you have any more info you can provide on the C&D letters you mentioned?

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I was told that the 'white list' will probably be threw in the bin anyway by early next year mate. whether that is true or not though

Thanks for the heads up on this. It's a regulation that I personally wasn't aware of, so off to double check my affiliate partners now. Rather that than run afoul of the law, even if it's likely to change in the near future.