ICE 2015 kicked off the year for the gambling industry and it was an exceptionally successful event for Jersey, the latest iGaming jurisdiction on the block.

The Jersey Gambling Commission was established in 2010, but the UK’s whitelist greatly restricted the island’s ability to attract iGaming operators as Jersey was not on the list.  Now that the whitelist has been abolished and the POCT is in place, Jersey has emerged as the latest tier one global iGaming jurisdiction and the reception of the industry has been overwhelming.

To get a feel for why Jersey is an ideal jurisdiction for online gambling operations, I sat down with Andy Jarrett, Director for Digital Jersey, an organization supporting local businesses, attracting new businesses and inspiring innovation on the island.  During our discussion, Jarrett covered the key benefits of obtaining a license and basing a business on island, Jersey’s relationships with other jurisdictions and crypto-currencies.

Becky Liggero: Jersey is a jurisdiction I’ve known about for several years but I haven’t seen much from the jurisdiction.  Now that the POCT has been passed and we have an abolished whitelist, Jersey is back and can you start by telling me how these new laws in the UK have put Jersey back on the map in terms of serving as a jurisdiction for iGaming?

Andy Jarrett: We set about putting the laws in place in Jersey and the latest draft was finished in 2012 and passed in ’13 – that was with the understanding that we’d get on the whitelist.  But I think the UK knew where it was going with the POCT and we were just making no progress because the operators and the businesses we were talking to really wanted us to be on the whitelist.  So we took a step back and thought, lets just pause.  Lets have a look at what’s out there jurisdiction-wise.  Lets talk to a whole bunch of operators and businesses to see what they would really like and then look to launch something in January when POCT comes in – that means that taxes are going to go up and the whiltelist is going to be going away, so that barrier’s been removed.

So I think those things coming together, we felt on the island that companies would look at different jurisdictions.  If they’re UK only, then why be anywhere other than the UK- they’re just going to relocate to the UK- but we thought this might provide a catalyst for people who might look for a new global hub.