The European gaming investment scene right now looks even more uncertain than Werner Heisenberg himself. Are investors safer in the United Kingdom with Brexit itself continuing to be uncertain, or in the Eurozone, which could crack up at any time now that Italy’s debt issues are cropping up in the news again? The danger of sudden taxation is ever present, or draconian regulations smashing an entire sector overnight with £2 maximum bets at fixed-odds betting terminals can materialize unexpectedly. And then the Supreme Court of the United States can just as swiftly give States permission to regulate their own sportsbook policy, pushing UK stocks back up again from their precipitous FOBT fall.

Who knows what happens next week. Will Brexit be cancelled again? Mainstream media is now harping in the fact that Northern Ireland isn’t so keen on Brexit anymore. Is the media pushing for another referrendum on the referrendum? Also, Theresa May’s government may or may not fall due to a piece of Brexit legislation that fellow party members believe will fail, which could force elections. Will those elections be considered a de facto second referrendum and then what if the pro European Union side wins and doesn’t want to go through with Brexit? Does anybody know what’s going on at all anymore?

I don’t think anybody knows what’s going on, least of all businesses, which is why it was not surprising at all to hear that Bet365 is opening up offices in Malta in addition to its headquarters in Gibraltar. But when the Times of Malta reported that the company was picking up and moving 1,000 Gibraltar employees to Malta in preparation for Brexit, Bet365 had a little bit of a conniption and called the Times report “wholly innaccurate”. They’re staying in Gibraltar. They’re just setting up shop in Malta, too. But they’re not moving 1,000 people. They just like the view from Malta, is all.

One could argue that Bet365 really is planning to pick up and leave Gibraltar but they just don’t want to let the market know yet so they’re screaming denial, but I think that’s a stretch. More likely they are simply hedging their bets, as any good gambler should, because they have no idea what’s going to happen where or when. If Brexit does happen (I can’t believe we’re still talking about “if”, really) then they want to have a foot in both doors, not knowing which one will close in their faces. If it doesn’t happen, there’s no harm in having an extra office in Malta. Considering uncertainties piled atop uncertainties here, it makes sense for many companies to position themselves in both jurisdictions, which can only help navigate whatever regime will be concocted after something finally happens, if anything ever does and these politicians stop blabbering at each other and let us all move on with our lives already.