IOM Eyes UK Gaming Legislation
The managing director of betinternet.com, Paul Doona, in mid-May told the Isle of Man Online that gambling deregulation in the United Kingdom could jeopardize the Isle of Man's popularity as an offshore jurisdiction for online gambling companies.
Many online gaming companies have chosen to locate in offshore jurisdictions like the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Alderney. The U.K. legislation, which could be passed as soon as 2004, would, among other things, allow Internet gambling companies to put their servers on mainland U.K.
Doona said the affect on places like the Isle of Man could be increased competition for companies as they choose where to locate.
"The (Isle of Man's) biggest competition is undoubtedly staring at it from across the Irish Sea," Doona said. "There will be an impact -- the extent of it I don't know. The Island was first in, so it is ahead of the game."
"The U.K. has looked at the situation and decided that if (online casino gambling) is coming and they want to be able to take best advantage of the situation," he added.
Tab Speaks Out Against Foreign Bookies
Tab, Australia's biggest betting company, in May asked the government to kick foreign online gambling operators out of the country and prevent Australians from using foreign operators' services.
The comments from Tab were part of the organizations' submission as part of the government's two-year review of its law making it illegal to offer online gambling to Australians. Warren Wilson, Tab's managing director, called the foreign operators parasites that could endanger local jobs.
"If the come in and they can sit offshore and not pay any of those taxes and not pay anything back to the racing industry, we've calculated that from every AU $100 million that transfers from a TAB across to these foreign operators, there would be AU $4.75 million lost to the racing industry and slightly just above that lost to the government," Wilson said.
Wilson also stated that foreign operators "need to be knocked on the head."
Vanuatu Taken Off OECD Blacklist
In May Vanuatu was taken off the list of uncooperative tax haves that is kept by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The removal was the result of the island implementing measures under its Harmful Tax Initiative.
"The OECD welcomes the commitment that Vanuatu has made to improve the transparency of its tax and regulatory systems and establish effective exchange of information for tax matters with OECT countries by 31 December 2005," representatives from the OECD stated.
The remaining countries on the blacklist are Andorra, Liechtenstein, Liberia, Monaco, The Marshall Islands and Nauru.
Senate Considers New Spam Rules
A representative from the Electronic Privacy Information Center recently told the Senate Committee of Commerce, Science and Transportation that a multi-tiered approach is needed to fight the problem of spam.
"A multi-tiered approach that includes aggressive enforcement, better technology for identifying and filtering spam and cooperation at the state and international level will all be necessary," EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg told the committee, according to AVN Online. "In addition, baseline federal legislation that gives users the opportunity to go after spammers and ensures that marketing lists are built on explicit consent and not on deception is a critical part of the effort to stem the tide of undesired commercial e-mail."
The Senate Committee heard the testimony in reference to its consideration of the Burns-Wyden bill, which is also known as the "Can Spam Act." The act would require spam email to have a valid return e-mail address and have opt-out features that allow recipients to discontinue receiving that spam. The bill would also allow Internet Service Providers take legal action against the companies who send spam.