Jersey to open its doors to online gambling

The Channel Islands - already with one internet gambling jurisdiction in Alderney - is about to get another.

Jersey, the largest island, will open its doors as a destination and operational base for internet gaming companies from all over the world early next year.

Graham White, chairman of the Jersey Gambling Commission, who has spent two years assisting the island’s lawmakers towards the conclusion of new gaming legislation, confirmed that it was likely the last steps would be taken early in the new year.

"We are almost there," he said. "All of the necessary infrastructure has been put into place, including essential elements such as telecommunications and disaster recovery. We believe that Jersey as a place to do business will be highly competitive. We have looked carefully at what other jurisdictions can offer and summarised their most competitive elements; we think that we have incorporated all of them into the package which we will be able to offer operators."

White was speaking to iNTERGAMINGi at EiG in Copenhagen last week. He added: "We fully intend that Jersey will be at the EiG show in Milan in 2011, though market conditions will decide whether we need our own stand." The former chief inspector of the British Gaming Board felt that there was no problem with Jersey going into competition with one of its neighbouring islands. "We will work together and Jersey entering the market will only strengthen the resilience found across the Channel Islands."

Is there room in the market for another jurisdiction? "The cynics will argue that the pie has already been sliced up - in fact that the pie has all been eaten! What people tend to forget is that there are new operating companies setting up in different parts of the world all of the time and they will want to register themselves somewhere with the right kind of foundations to support their activities. There are also those who are dissatisfied with the degree and quality of service that they currently receive from their operating base. These are the clients for Jersey in the future."