Great Britain Explores Relaxing Internet Gambling Laws

Britain may bring in legislation allowing London-listed Internet gambling companies to move their headquarters to Britain, according to reports in the Sunday Times newspaper.

The paper said it had seen documents in which the government said the move would provide Britain's online gamblers with 'a safe, well-regulated environment'.

The paper also said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport had been lobbying the Treasury to introduce a favorable tax regime for online gambling companies.

The biggest London-listed Internet gambling company, PartyGaming Plc which is in the blue-chip FTSE 100 index, is based in Gibraltar, as is 888 Holdings Plc. Empire Online Ltd is based in the British Virgin Islands.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Congress approved a bill to make it illegal for banks to process payments to gaming Web sites, leading most European operators to pull out of the United States and hitting their share prices.