Gambling regulators in the UK are advising Bitcoin-only online gaming operators that even though they are using a virtual currency, they are still regulated under UK law.
The UK Gambling Commission said that it has become concerned that illegal gambling operators are under the mistaken assumption that bitcoin’s unregulated status means that gambling with bitcoins is also outside of the country’s gambling laws.
The commission wrote to a number of website operators offering prizes of money or money’s worth to gamblers in Britain that are not licensed in the UK. Bitcoin comes under the category of “money’s worth,” and operators still need a UK gambling license, the commission said.
“We wrote to these operators because they were either advertising gambling illegally or illegally offering gambling products to consumers, or both,” said Gambling Commission CEO Jenny Williams. “The commission neither prohibits nor encourages Bitcoin—we are interested only in ensuring the proper regulation of gambling products consumed in Britain. The currency is almost irrelevant as all operators need to satisfy themselves, and us, that they can fully meet all our requirements, particularly the requirements that ensure crime is kept out of gambling and consumers are protected.”
