All of the talk right now is about referenda. The Scots are about to vote on whether to stay a part of the United Kingdom or have an independent country. Against that background there is the larger question of the UK having a referendum on whether to stay within the EC.
The latter subject becomes interesting in that a survey by the German Marshall Fund asked people across the EU whether they thought the UK should remain in membership. All of them said stoutly that the UK should remain – except the French, who showed a majority wanting the Brits out.
Now I don’t really condemn the French for this attitude. After all, when we had a vote way back in the 1970s (1973?) I voted against joining. Whether the UK stays in or not, it may be a much depleted UK, consisting only of Wales, Northern Ireland and that other place.
If the Scots leave, what happens to the gaming industry? Will Scotland become a venue for the lucrative issue of i-gaming licences? Will it have its own Gambling Commission? Will it even permit gambling at all? Will the kilted puritans of the Kirk (high church in Scotland) dismiss at a stroke all forms of gambling down to the humble ticket redemption game?
There is nothing in the “yes” faction’s manifesto to indicate one way or the other, but certainly if I was an operator currently situated north of the border, I would be somewhat twitchy.
Indeed, on the wider issue, what would become of the UK’s industry if it snubs Europe and votes to come out of the EC? Personally, I think it’s likely that the Brits will pull out and, interestingly, they won’t be the first to have done so. Did you know that Greenland was a founder member of the European Community way back in the 1950s and resigned over a fishing dispute? Whatever suits the Greenlanders suits me, I say.
But then, I have always been Welsh first, British a long way second and European a poor third. Back off the soapbox…
