Sports Minister Richard Caborn on Tuesday spoke out on the U.K. Gambling Act, set to come into force alongside the Gambling Commission on September 1, as an example that other countries would eventually follow.
Speaking at a Westminster eForum-organized gambling seminar in London, Caborn pointed out--with a deliberate nod to the United States and certain European countries--that the new structure for regulation in the United Kingdom is based on three principles: keeping gambling crime-free, making sure that gambling is fair and open, and protecting children and vulnerable adults.
"We have introduced a new future for gambling in the 24-hour economy of the leisure pound, and now we've got probably the best regulated gambling industry in the world," Caborn said. "…I believe this will be a model around the world."
Caborn said the United States' push for I-gaming prohibition, as well as the stance in some European countries of protectionism, is not working and will continue to not work.
"In the United States, gambling will go underground and become crime-ridden," he said. "In Europe, they won't have the advantage of being part of the leisure industry because they will be over-controlled. Both will be found wanting."