PokerStars.com, the online poker group that operates illegally in the US, will be allowed to advertise on British TV and radio from next month even though it is not regulated by the government's new Gambling Commission.
It is just one of hundreds of internet gambling groups, unlicensed in the UK, which are to be granted freedom to advertise in Britain under the government's Gambling Act 2005. They will not be regulated here or pay British tax.
Culture minister James Purnell yesterday published a list of overseas territories that he claimed met "strict standards" of regulation. They include Alderney and the Isle of Man, where PokerStars was recently granted a licence.
When high-tech slots are in place, programmers will be able to control nearly every aspect of the game — cost, payout, even the images that line up on the payline. Casino operators will be able to make changes in real time through back-end servers that talk to computer chips inside the slot machines.
