Online Poker in the UK to See Reforms

A report in the Guardian talked about how poker players in the United Kingdom have been negatively impacted by the closure of Full Tilt Poker earlier this month and why reforms will need to be considered. 

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt is preparing to radically overhaul online gambling licensing rules which have left hundreds of British poker players unable to get hold of their funds after the founders of Full Tilt Poker, the world's second-largest poker site, found themselves at the centre of money-laundering and illegal gambling charges in the US.

"This highlights why the government is looking at reforming how overseas-based operators are regulated and we hope to make an announcement in the next few weeks," a spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media & Sport said.

The United Kingdom prohibits online gambling websites from advertising directly without a license, however, residents of Great Britain do become exposed to offshore wagering enterprises by way of the Internet. 

Likewise, Full Tilt Poker had been granted a license by British Channel Islands Alderney and spent millions of dollars marketing within the UK.

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher

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