Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The U.K. Gambling Commission said Monday that it has launched its new
conditions under which licences are granted to gambling operators and staff,
and new codes of practice, which all operators in the gambling industry must
follow if they want to run a gambling business in Britain next year. The
Commission said it will have significant new legal powers to monitor the
industry and to prosecute illegal gambling. It will also advise central and
local government on issues related to gambling. Set up in October 2005, the
Commission's remit is to regulate the gambling industry in the public
interest. The new regulations will be summed up in licence conditions and
codes for the industry, the regulator said. Peter Dean, the Commission's
chairman. "Britain's gambling laws are undergoing wholesale reform and from
September next year all operators must be licensed by the Gambling
Commission". "The conditions and codes set out the rules which operators
must observe to meet our three licensing objectives of keeping crime out of
gambling, ensuring that gambling is fair and open, and protecting children
and other vulnerable people", Dean said. The Commission has powers to
prosecute operators who fail to maintain standards and can impose unlimited
fines on operators that breach their licence conditions.