Wheel of fortune has yet to spin for e-gaming industry
Saturday 14th January 2012, 2:59PM GMT.
Senator Alan Maclean says that pressing ahead with legislation for e-gaming was not a mistake
JERSEY’S attempt to cash in on the multi-million-pound internet gaming industry has so far failed to bring in a single penny in revenue for the Island.
And the move has hit a potentially disastrous stumbling block because Jersey licensed companies are currently banned from advertising in the UK – one of the most lucrative online gaming industries in the world.
As a result not a single company has applied for a licence in Jersey, despite years of work and thousands of pounds of public investment.
It is estimated that the Island has lost out on around £2.5 million so far and, unless a special agreement can be reached with the UK, that figure is only going to increase.
However, Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean is still hopeful that a resolution can be found and denied that it was a mistake to press forward with e-gaming legislation.
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Agreement should be done before spending the cash… They should know that it isn’t Monopoly money in the States treasure chest…
Well, It look like they picked the wrong community card….
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Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect £200.
Even if we had won the e-gambling card would it have helped employment in Jersey? Probably not. The server would have been in Jersey but all the software engineers would have been out there in the ether and thanks to zero-ten, no tax to pay. No big loss to Jersey then.
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there was roumour of the cost so far to the island , without any return to date, was more than what has been lost out on.
not one company applied .
years of work at what cost?
did we not read the news from this very paper , that it was all go go go?
imo, the only thing that was go go go was the time and money spent , long after other islands had got themselves up and running , without any fuss.
anyone see a pattern forming?.
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States of Jersey all over – 10 years too late and an c*ck up to boot.
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grumpy old woman is right ,10 years to late , to make your money on line you have to be one of the first out of the block or come up with a whole different concept , GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
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They were right to press ahead. I am not an expert but I am guessing the UK will be using this ban to act as leveridge when pushing for the shutdown of the fulfillment industry. Shut down they fulfillment industry and we will lift the ban!!! Then all the hard work will be worth it and we will be immediatly available to cash in. Think before you all whinge! Again just my humble guess!
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Didn’t anyone do an infeasibility study?
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Gibraltar got their first. Jersey missed the boat ages ago.
I also hope the UK does not change its advertising laws – I’m sick of you lot basing your whole economy on abusing UK laws in many industries. Do something which does not involve exploiting UK law loopholes for once for a revenue stream.
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Alderney and Guernsey cleaned up..!!!
This lot, through dragging the anchor, got cleaned out, how much did this latest cock-up cost the Taxpayer, with not one applicant.
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What this story does not reflect is how much the creation of this latest Civil service empire has cost the Jersey public, especially local charities, which now have to submit a raft of forms and pay between £50 and £100 pounds for “permission” to host simple bingo and other fund raising events. We are in recession and now have the highest unemployment for many years. Just what will it take for our politicians to understand that Jersey can no longer afford this level of bureaucratic stupidity?
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7. Dan
As a Jerseyman i could not agree with you more.I am sick of the way our island is being abused by so many tax dodging industries without producing anything of any worth.
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I agree too. Why are we concentrating our economy on tax loopholes that can be shut down on a whim by other countries? The more money we ‘relieve’ those countries of, the more likely they are to react against us. This is very short term thinking. How strange to think that once upon a time we had thriving industries in our own right: agriculture, tourism even a little light industry. How crazy of Jersey to turn its back on them. Jersey seems to be hellbent on being like Del-boy Trotter; forever on the lookout for short term opportunites, before ending up with all fingers burnt.
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So its okay to take money from internet gambling but Jersey couldn’t possibly have a casino (like everywhere else in the modern world).
No problem taking money from foreign suckers…as long as we don’t darken our own doorstep with a filthy casino!
10 years to late….oh yes, what’s the next project they are planning to boost the coffers? A TRAIN…..you couldn’t make it up!
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Yes, but maybe the train will have a gambling car?
On second thoughts maybe I shouldn’t have said that in case one of them is reading…
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J Bean – nice one!!
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in time past(60′s) , someone had a old ship that had a casino on it it went out of jerseywaters , to open up .
for myself this is a history myth.
i am sure that someone out there know s the story .
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about 6 months ago it was on the back page of the FT that the UK was considering a 15% tax on all companies advertising for UK customers so 15% betting tax UK no betting tax off-shore = off-shore betting becomes uncompetitive the way i see it is all will pay the price if Jersey gets the go ahead as the EU will not allow it
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a credit card and instant betting and we want to support that industry? What is our government thinking of.
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Looks like it might turn out to be a big and expensive pile of worthless poop, a bit like LLP (Limited Liablity Partnerships).
These were sold to us on the basis that major accountancy firms and their ilk would register here.
Now we have the Gambling Commission, no doubt swallowing a six figure sums to regulate bingo and tombola!
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So JT spent how much on their data centre for this, £9 million?
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No Worries, they can still turn to prostitution and drugs like in Holland !
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hollands doing quite well at the moment i belive.
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