FOR many years, those in authority in Jersey have displayed an ambivalent attitude towards gambling. While the Island’s gambling laws remain stuck in the past, a steady growth has been tolerated in the kind of activities which would have once have been totally taboo, including lotteries, betting shops, raffles, bingo and crown and anchor stalls.

However, as the States are steadily realising, times have changed. In the past, opportunities to gamble were locally based, but all sorts of gaming and betting are now international activities. The electronic age means that man-made and physical borders are no bar to placing bets or buying lottery tickets.

Thus, although our elected representatives would do well to continue to look askance at the idea of a Jersey casino – which will no doubt rear its head again in the not-too-distant future – their decision to set up a gambling commission to pave the way for online gambling business must be described as realistic.

Whereas a casino would clearly have a physical presence in the Island – with who knows what consequences in terms of its impact on society and our international reputation as a mature, well-regulated finance centre – e-gaming would merely tap into an established phenomenon unlikely to have any additional material impact on this community.

Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and even Alderney already have well developed online gambling industries, so we are arriving late at the party. In spite of this, there are no compelling reasons why we should not tap into sources of revenue that are still there for the taking, if the activities that we encourage are properly supervised and regulated. Indeed, in the present difficult circumstances and with the threat of future budgetary deficits hanging over us, this diversification of the economy must be encouraged.

This is certainly the line being taken by Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean, who also stresses that e-gaming is an industry with a ‘small footprint’ which would not lead to any significant immigration or put extra pressure on infrastructure and other resources.

Senator Maclean has also highlighted a vital extra role of the new commission – as well as helping to develop the structures necessary for online gambling, it would be charged with protecting Islanders from the dangers of gambling addiction.

How this will be achieved has yet to be spelled out, but it is essential that as much emphasis is given to this protective role as to the development of a new and, it is to be hoped, highly profitable economic sector.