Brexit is being talked about now more so than ever before as the time Britain to leave the European Union (EU) is fast approaching. Brexit is expected to significantly impact the financial sector as well as a number of other industries. Will Brexit have any impact on live poker and online poker in the EU and Great Britain?
Neil Channing, a British poker player who actively follows political trends all over the world recently shared his views on the matter. He believes that Brexit could have a major impact on poker players but he believes the bigger impact will be felt by poker operators.
What Is Brexit?
Before we go into how Brexit will impact the EU and UK poker industry, let us take a quick look at how Brexit came about.
Britain held a national referendum on June 23, 2016, which happened to be a Thursday, during which citizens of Britain had the answer the difficult question of whether UK should remain a part of the EU or leave it. 51.9% of the citizens voted for Leave while 48.1% voted for Remain. The turnout was 71.8% as over 30 million citizens cast their vote. This means that Brexit is certain although 48.1% of British citizens want the country to remain in the EU.
Impact on Licensing Jurisdictions
When it comes to online poker, most players pick an online poker website based on the bonuses, promotions and payout options. Very few players have taken the time to look at where their online poker website is licensed.
Several licensing bodies reside in the UK and its neighboring areas. Some examples include the Isle of Man (The Gambling Supervision Commission), Alderney, and Gibraltar (the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority). Following the Brexit, operators may consider moving to the EU, leading to an increase in price of property in Malta. Gibraltar may lose popularity as a licensing jurisdiction.
On the other hand, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man will hardly be affected as they have never been inside the EU. Malta and Ireland could turn out to be a better licensing option following the Brexit. Operators have already made contingency plans, and many of them already have offices in these jurisdictions.
Live Poker Could Suffer
Although Brexit will not have any effect on major operators such as 888Poker, PokerStars, and partypoker, their live poker offerings may suffer. Channing says that operators may find UK venues to be less attractive for their tournaments. Currently, operators of live events are steering away from London because it is difficult to find a venue large enough to host tournaments with large player fields.
Impact on Visiting Poker Players
According to Channing, two types of poker players will be impacted.
The first type is the weekend visitor who just wants to participate in a poker tournament in London or Nottingham. These players will require visas or an ESTA equivalent, which they can obtain for a fee. Since poker players are usually lazy and disorganized, most of them wouldn’t want to bother coming to the UK just to take part in a weekend tournament.
The second type is the migrant poker pro who has arrived from Spain, Greece, France, Scandinavia, and Portugal—players who have shifted to the UK simply because it is a tax haven as it does not tax player winnings. Most of these players have been in the UK for the past 10 years. They have left their countries because the gambling laws have made things very difficult for poker pros, forcing them to pay tax on all their winnings without allowances being made for losses incurred.
Most of these poker pros wouldn’t have bothered to do the paperwork required to prove that they have been living in the UK for several years and it is highly unlikely that these poker pros have gone through the process of changing their nationality. Such players may be asked to leave following Brexit and that would mark the end of their poker careers in Britain. Their alternative is to move to another country which has poker friendly laws.
Uncertainty and Confusion
The tax laws and gambling regulations are so confusing that the poker gaming community has not yet understood what life will be like when Britain finally leaves the European Union. Although Brexit has led to a lot of discussion and debate among political circles, the poker gaming community hasn’t given much thought to it. Channing feels that players ought to make contingency plans after studying the statistics.
The future of the game and its players depends a great deal on exactly how Brexit will take place and the resulting changes to gaming regulations, tax laws, live poker tournaments and online poker liquidity.