The overseas U.K. territory of Gibraltar says it is deferring reporting on its progress to be removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “gray list,” of jurisdictions that need to do more to fight money-laundering. That includes resisting FATF’s pressure to increase fines for anti-money laundering violations.
The FATF added Gibraltar to the “gray list” in June, when FATF said Gibraltar was not “applying sufficient fines for anti-money laundering failings.”
Being on the list is not a sufficient reason to increase sanctions, said the territory’s gaming commissioner, Andrew Lyman.
The latest addition of the list, which includes updates on how jurisdictions have progressed with action plans to fight money laundering, includes nothing on Gibraltar’s progress.
FATF President T. Raja Kumar declared, “Gibraltar needs to increase the dissuasiveness of its penalties, in particular fines related to the gambling industry and the legal sector that serves these companies,” he said. “Gibraltar is a small jurisdiction, but it is an offshore financial hub, and the home to many gambling companies.”
The territory has begun a revision of its gaming laws that began with a consultation on new licensing fees. This consultation will be affixed to the update of the Gibraltar Gambling Act. That revision targets application fees and licensing fees on “remote gambling services,” i.e. online gaming. The bill, according to a report by SBC News, will propose “new framework for licensing and the regulation of the commercial gambling industry in Gibraltar and other elements of gambling activities.”
Current license fees are £100,000 for business to consumer (B2C) and £85,000 business to business (B2B) license fees for remote gambling businesses and services. The proposed license fee for B2C operators will be £30,000 and for B2B it will be £20,000 for content aggregators and £10,000 for “Direct Software Services.” B2B licenses will be divided into Aggregator, Direct Licensing and Platforms. License fees will be tied to gross sales for suppliers with less than £550,000 in gross sales.
Over and above licensing fees, aggregators will pay an annual fee of 1 percent of gross revenue. Sportsbook platform providers will pay £50,000 annually for supplying betting content and data.
