It may not have grabbed the national headlines but tucked away in the briefing notes for the Queen’s speech at yesterday’s state opening of the UK parliament was the prospect of all online gambling operators based overseas needing to hold a UK licence to operate or advertise in the country.

State opening of parliament

Operators based in the UK are currently required to hold a Gambling Commission licence but those based overseas do not need a UK licence provided they are regulated in the jurisdiction in which they are based.

Those operators based abroad are permitted to advertise their services to the UK provided they are situated in – and regulated by – a white-listed jurisdiction, as recognised by the Gambling Commission. Currently, these white-listed jurisdictions are all European Economic Area countries - i.e. countries in the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway - along with Alderney, Antigua and Barbuda, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Tasmania.

Under the proposed bill, all operators selling or advertising in the UK will have to hold a UK licence. The requirement would apply to Great Britain, with some provisions extending to Northern Ireland.

This would also mean that operators based overseas would be obliged to inform the Gambling Commission about any suspicious betting patterns involving British customers.

Regulation at the point of consumption, which the bill would effectively usher in, would bring regulation in line with the proposals for point-of-consumption taxation for remote gambling that were announced as part of the March 2012 UK budget.