Sportingbet Will Leave UK in Favor of the Channel Islands

Sportingbet's chief executive Andy McIver referred to the UK government as a bunch of amateurs. 

Mr McIver was speaking as the company took a relocation charge of more than £10m in its third-quarter results as a consequence of its decision to move all operations requiring a licence to the Channel Islands.

He told the Independent that Sportingbet had been left with no choice but to make the move to Guernsey because "the way Government gambling policy has been handled, it's just like amateur night".

Mr McIver didn't mince words as he went on: "We have computer systems that need to be updated. If we don't meet their [the new Gambling Commission] requirements by September we will be committing a criminal offence. The problem is we don't know what the requirements are.

"We don't want to leave this country - we never did - but we feel we have no choice. You only have to look at the way the supercasino was handled."

Mr McIver described the Gambling Commission as "a bunch of civil servants in Birmingham". He did not rule out a return to Britain but said it was now "highly unlikely". Sportingbet - which has customers in the UK, Australia, Italy, Spain and Turkey - has had a licence to operate from the Channel Islands since its early days.

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Gambling911.com News Wire

Originally published June 6, 2007 10:18 pm ET