Months ago, the UK Gambling Commission imposed a new taxation law that will require all online gambling operators who accept players from the United Kingdom to acquire a UK license and pay a 15% tax on any profits derived from that region’s players. The majority of UK-facing online poker sites are licensed in tax havens, avoiding the exorbitantly higher tax rate of UK licensed operators. According to an email sent out by Mansion Poker, the site’s directors have chosen to exit the UK market.
Mansion Poker is licensed and regulated in Gibraltar; one of the previously mentioned tax havens many UK operators have flocked to over the last decade. The new UK taxation law gives online poker operators a very simple choice. They can either apply for a license and pay the new tax rate, or cease acceptance of UK players. The announcement that Mansion Poker took the latter route and would no longer supply its services to UK online gamblers came last week via an email to all members of the online poker room logging in from the UK.
“Due to changing regulations regarding online gaming in the United Kingdom, we must inform you that Mansion Poker is required to close its doors to UK players on September 15th, 2014,” read the email. Note that September 15th is the deadline that was given to online gambling sites to apply for a license from the UK Gambling Commission if they intended to continue accepting player’s from that region. “As a result,” the missive continued, “we kindly request that you withdraw any and all funds you have in your Mansion Poker account.”
Further along in the explanatory memo, the staff offered an alternate online poker destination for its UK members. “We have found an exceptional gaming alternative for you: Titanbet.co.uk. You are invited to join this new reliable and secure brand for continued online poker enjoyment.” That section of the email went on to describe Titanbet’s affiliation with the iPoker Network, promising that, “The new room will match your Points and VIP level from Mansion Poker so that you can get a head start in your poker play.”
Established in 2004, this isn’t the first time Mansion Poker felt the pressure of newly invoked legislation forcing them out of a major online poker market. In 2006, passage of the UIGEA in the United States incited a mass exodus of many online gambling operations, including Mansion Poker.
The legal ramifications for failing to apply for a license or exit the UK market are substantial enough that the majority of the estimated 150 online poker, casino, sports betting and bingo websites that service the region now will form a similar mass exodus from the United Kingdom over the next 10 days. However, just as has been the case in the United States after the events of Black Friday in 2011, there will surely be a number of rogue operators who attempt to breech the UK’s online poker market without applying for the soon-to-be mandatory license.
Applications for licensure in the UK are to be submitted no later than September 15th, 2014. The new taxation law will go into effect approximately two weeks later on Wednesday, October 1st.